


Bad Reputation

by electribunny



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Canon-Typical Drinking, Childhood abandonment, First Kiss, Homophobia, M/M, Self-Acceptance, Slight Redemption, Strangers to Lovers, Underage Drinking, ooc parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 23,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electribunny/pseuds/electribunny
Summary: Moving to a new town for his freshman year of high school, Eric Bittle has to navigate meeting new people, homophobia from his parents, and being cut off from the activities he loves. He finds his place as a member of his school's hockey team, despite their bad reputation.
Relationships: Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Comments: 37
Kudos: 149





	1. College Town Samwell

**Author's Note:**

> yeehaw im really excited about this. this is a fic that ive literally wanted to write since the october but havent actually like sat down and written until now. im really excited for this story and where it will go, and i hope you guys are too!

The last time they would ever pull out of that driveway. His escape from the small Georgia town that went against everything he was as a person. Still, he couldn’t help but be sad as they drove away from everything he’d ever known. He had always wanted to get out of Madison, but not in these circumstances. He supposed he should be grateful. They were just going to kick him out of the house, but in the end, his mother couldn’t bring herself to do it. So, instead, they were moving to Samwell, a small college town in Massachusetts, to avoid the shame. Because your son being caught making out with the quarterback? That was social suicide in Madison. But in Samwell? The only people there who were aware of their existence was Eric’s Aunt Judy. So, up north they went. 

Eric wasn’t doing too well, being cut off from everything he loved. Normally, his mother would put on the pop station for him, since it was his favorite. But now, his parents typical country music flowed from the speakers of the truck. His figure skates had been hidden from him, and he was banned from even thinking about baking. His parents didn’t seem to understand that these things weren’t what made him gay, he just so happened to be gay while enjoying them. He tried to sleep off the drive. He didn’t want to be conscious while stuck in the car with his parents for 17 hours straight. 

He was awoken by the car stopping. He looked out to see the sun rising, and the car parked in a driveway he had only seen in pictures before. Most of his things had already been brought by the movers, so he just grabbed his last few boxes, hauled them up the stairs to his new room, and set them in the corner. He grabbed Senor Bun from the top of his backpack, and passed out on his bed, despite the lack of sheets. He knew he could only sleep for so long, but he didn’t want to be awake. 

\---

It had been a month since Eric had moved to Samwell, and he had not made a single friend. He was hopeful that that would change though, since it was his first day of school at Samwell High. He knew the other kids would probably look at him like he was crazy, with his jeans and a navy blue hoodie, but he hadn’t quite adjusted to Samwell's weather yet. His parents took him to school, and Eric rushed out of the car before they could say goodbye. 

His first step into the school was a culture shock. Hung on the wall was the Massachusetts state flag, with a gay pride flag hung right next to it. He stared in disbelief at the pronoun pins, pride flag patches, and LGBT couples in the hallways. He was too shy to talk to any of them, but it was nice to see. He knew that if he did ever get a boyfriend, he would be accepted. He went to his first class, feeling good. 

As the day progressed he ended up with a small speech memorized, recited at the beginning of each class. A monotone “Hi, my name’s Eric Bittle. I moved here from Madison, Georgia. I’m 14, and a freshman. One interesting fact about me is that I used to be a competitive figure skater. I don’t do it anymore, though.” The class feigned their interest, and he went through Math, English. Biology, History, and Health before that changed. In his final class of the day, home economics, he sat down in his assigned seat after his introduction. He was placed next to a junior who made it obvious that he didn’t want to be there. He had on a pair of cargo shorts and some kind of graphic tee, although Eric couldn’t see the design, as a pair of muddy work boots were propped up on his desk. As Eric set down his backpack and sat down, he noticed that the boy reeked of weed. As soon as the teacher started talking, he did too, turning to Eric. 

“Bittle. Bittle. I can do something with that…” He was deep in concentration for a second, his rather impressive mustache crinkling up as he thought. “Bitty!” 

“Bitty?” Eric asked, raising an eyebrow at the stranger. He really should be paying attention to the teacher, but this was the first person that had talked to him all day, and honestly, he was curious. 

“It’s a nickname. I’ve got nicknames for everyone.” He held out his hand toward Eric. “The names Shitty, by the way.” 

Eric shook his hand in return, and couldn’t help but giggle. “I’m sorry, it’s just...Do the teachers call you Shitty?” 

“Oh no, but if they did that wou-”

“Mr. Knight!” Shitty was interrupted by the teacher. “I get that this is not your first time in my home economics class, but it is Mr. Bittle’s, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped distracting our new student!” 

“Sure, whatever” Shitty waved the teacher off, and she turned back to whatever she was saying. “I flunked this class twice, I think she’s just tired of having me stuck here. Honestly, I would pass, but it’s sixth period! You can’t expect me to come most of the time!” 

“You just..ditch class?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, wow. I think my parents would kill me if I did that.” Eric responded. Shitty seemed uncomfortable and quickly changed the subject. 

“So, you used to figure skate, huh? Why’d you stop?” 

“Parents made me. I didn’t want to, but Coach insisted I move on to a manlier sport.” Eric sighed. He didn’t like thinking about the fact that he was forced to give up one of the things dearest to him. 

“You ever play hockey before?” 

“A few times. I was on a no-contact league for a bit in middle school. I don’t know how good I am now though.” 

“Skill can be worked on. But after figure skating? I bet you’re real fast.” Shitty’s eyes lit up as he spoke.

“I guess. I mean, you’ve gotta be fast, to land some of those jumps.” 

“Perfect! Here.” Shitty grabbed Eric’s notebook and wrote down a phone number and address on the first page. “Hockey team tryouts. Right after school. I can take you to the rink if you need.”

“What?” 

“Our fastest guy graduated last year, and I bet you’re itching to get back on the ice. Even if the skates are a little different, that’s not something you could just leave behind forever.” Eric hated to admit it, but he had a point. 

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.” The bell rang, and Shitty was quick to hop out of his seat. 

“Perfect! See you tomorrow Bitty!” 

Bitty. He liked the sound of that. 


	2. First friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi sorry i know its been forever since the last update, i got really depressed. but now that I'm on coronacation I've got all the free time in the world, and nothing to do, so i finally was able to write the next chapter. expect more consistent updates from now on because i literally don't go back to school until fucking may. which sucks. anyways, hope you enjoy!
> 
> tumblr: vanilla-saturated

**New Contact Added: Shitty**

hey  **6:45 pm**

its bitty  **6:45 pm**

i just realized i dont own

a pair of hockey skates  **6:46 pm**

Hey! No problem man! I

can just bring you a pair. 

What size shoe do you

wear? I can just take you

to school tomorrow so you

can try them on in the

morning. Where do you

live?  **6:48 pm**

**Incoming Call: Shitty**

\---

Eric was pretty sure he looked ridiculous. It was only August and he was wearing jeans, a hoodie, and a beanie. He was sure the other kids at school would look at him weirdly, but it would take a lot for him to adjust to Massachusetts weather. He checked his appearance in the mirror one last time, grabbed his phone and backpack, and headed downstairs. 

His parents were sitting at the kitchen table, talking over breakfast. They went silent when he walked in. Eric ignored them, and grabbed his mug, filling it with creamer and then coffee. 

“I’m staying after school today.” He broke the silence. 

“Why?” 

“Hockey tryouts.” He screwed the lid onto his mug and shoved it in his backpack. 

“Atta boy,” Coach responded quietly, after a second. “Now that’s a real sport.” A truck pulled up into the driveway, and the driver honked his horn. 

“Who is that?” Eric’s mom asked. 

“Bye.” He walked out the front door and left his house before his parents could say anything. He got in the truck, and Shitty hit the pedals before he could even get his seatbelt on. 

“Bitty! How are you, man? Enjoy your front-seat privileges, because that’s normally Jack’s spot. He had to go in early today though, to set up for tryouts. The skates are in the back by the way, if you wanna try them on.” 

“Who is Jack?” Bittle asked, reaching back to find a pair of plain black skates. He kicked off his shoes and began tying the laces. 

“Oh! Jack is our team captain, and the best friend of your’s truly. He’s kinda shy at first but he’s really cool, promise. You’ll see. How do those fit?” 

“Perfectly!” 

“That’s good. Just leave em in the back, we can grab em after school.” Bitty took off the skates, and they pulled into the parking lot just as he finished putting his shoes back on. 

“Here, you head in. I gotta swing by the rink and pick up Jack.” Shitty reached over, and pulled off Eric’s beanie to ruffle his hair. “Seeya around man.” 

“Yeah.” Eric smiled up at him. “Seeya.” 

His first friend at Samwell. He felt good. 

\---

He thought he would be nervous about hockey tryouts. But he wasn’t. One hand was clutching his skates, and the other was crammed into Shitty’s as he was dragged into the arena. He learned quickly that Shitty was really big on physical affection. He spent his home economics class in the back, ignoring the worksheet he had in front of him as Shitty draped his arm around his shoulder and explained how tryouts would go. 

“You don’t even have to worry about it, you’re basically guaranteed a spot on the team. I searched up some of your old skating videos-hope you don’t mind-you skate beautifully. I showed Jack, and he was impressed. Why did you ever stop skating? You were so good!” 

“My parents didn’t like it very much. Coach coached football back home in Georgia, I think he kinda hoped I would follow in his footsteps. I just got tired of them harassing me all the time.” Bitty half-lied. He didn’t want to flat out lie to Shitty, but wasn’t ready to tell the full truth just yet.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He thought that Shitty could sense that he was uncomfortable, and quickly changed the subject to the drills he was going to have to do. And then, time flew by and he was there. Shitty opened the door to the arena, and Bittle was greeted with the sounds of yelling, laughing, and skates sliding on the ice. It made him horribly nostalgic, but he could tell from looking at the group that they were all incredibly close. He never actually had a super close friend group like that, but it was nice to watch them all. 

As soon as the duo was noticed, there were a couple shouts of “Shitty, hey!” before a very tall blonde guy skated up to them and addressed Bittle. 

“Dude! It’s August! Why the fuck are you dressed like that?” 

“Holster, leave him alone, he’s from Yeehawville.” Shitty responded. 

“Georgia is not ‘Yeehawville!’” Eric faked offense. 

“Yeah, it’s Yeehaw _ town _ . Get it right Shits.” An equally tall man skated up beside Holster, smacking him dramatically on the back as he did. 

“Ransom, one of these days you’re going to break my fucking back.” Holster elbowed his friend dramatically. 

“That’s Ransom and Holster.” Shitty turned to Eric. “They’re a package deal. I’m pretty sure they’re like soulmates or something, except they’re straight. Unfortunately.” 

“Yeah man, nice to meet you! You’re Bitty, right? Shitty has told us a little bit about you.” Ransom waved. 

“Hi!” Bitty waved back. Despite the fact that everyone in the room could beat him up with no problem, he felt very comfortable. He could tell he was going to fit in. 

Suddenly, a hand was tapping him on his shoulder. Bittle turned around, and was facing the hottest man he had ever met in his life. He hoped his cheeks weren’t too red. 

“Hey, you’re the new kid, right? I’m Jack Zimmermann, I’m the team’s captain.” He reached his hand out to Bitty, who took it. 

“Yeah, I’m Eric. Bittle. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“Shitty sent me some videos of you skating. You’ve got good control. Have you played hockey before?” 

“Yeah, I was on a no-contact league for a few years. It’s been a while since I’ve used hockey skates though, so forgive me if I’m a little wobbly at first.” 

“Yeah, that’s no problem. We’ve got time to improve your hockey skills before our first game.” Jack then shouted to address the entire team. “Alright everyone, quit messing around! Take a warmup lap!” He then leaned down to Bitty again. “You too kid, come on.” 


	3. Break Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruh this quarantine has got me Fucked Up. im literally almost done with chapter 5 of this story. ive written so many one shots for other fandoms that I'm in. I'm working on an omgcp one shot. i haven't written this much since my wattpad days in middle school
> 
> tumblr: vanilla-saturated

Bitty was still glowing. As much as Shitty reassured him, he couldn’t believe that he had actually made the team. And now that he had a phone full of new contacts and a new group of friends, he felt a lot better about Samwell. Sure, Jack was a little standoffish, but Bitty assured him that he was just shy. Jack would come around eventually. And it wasn’t that he was  _ mean _ to Bittle, just a little harsh. He could deal with harshness. 

Speak of the devil, Jack himself texted him. 

**New Text: Jack Zimmermann**

We’re outside.  **6:52 am**

alright, just putting my shoes on!   
i’ll be there in a second!  **6:52 am**

While he was still wearing long pants, he had decided to be brave and wear a t-shirt that day. If he got cold, then he got cold. That was just what it was. He could deal with being cold for one day, but he really didn’t want to deal with the chirping from his teammates. He slipped on his shoes, ran downstairs, grabbed his coffee from the fridge, and was almost out the door when his mother stopped him. 

“Dicky, who are these people picking you up? I don’t feel comfortable with you riding around with two upperclassman boys that I don’t even know. You know that we should be taking you to school.” 

“They’re my teammates, Mom.” He left before his parents could stop him. He didn’t want to have to go through an incredibly awkward car ride every morning. He slid into the backseat, and once again Shitty sped off as soon as the door was shut. 

“There you are Bitty! What took you so long dude?” Shitty asked. 

“Sorry, parents stopped me at the door.” Bittle laughed. “Good morning Jack.” 

“Morning.” Jack piped up from the backseat. “What did you have for breakfast?” 

“Oh, I normally don’t eat breakfast,” Bitty admitted, taking a sip of his coffee. Wordlessly, Jack reached into his bag, grabbed something, and chucked it towards Bittle. 

“What?” 

“Protein bar. You need more protein. Being fast means nothing if you’re that scrawny.” Jack explained. 

“Oh, uhm, thanks.” Bittle opened the wrapper and began eating. The car ride was mostly silent for the rest of the time, besides Shitty’s music blaring through the speakers. It wasn’t an awkward silence though. Bitty had just met these boys, and he was more comfortable around them than he was his own parents. 

When they got to school, Jack said his goodbyes and headed off towards his first class, but Shitty accompanied Bitty to his locker. 

“Don’t worry about Jack. He’s always been wary of new people, and he’s just looking out for you, okay? That’s what the team does, we look out for each other. We got your back, no matter what, but you gotta get ours too, okay?” 

“Oh! Yeah, definitely. I don’t know what it is, I only just met all you guys but I already feel so, connected with you guys.” Bittle admitted. 

“Yeah, that happens a lot. I don’t know what it is. We just attract good people, I guess. Even if everyone else considers us delinquents or whatever. It’s just, we’re gonna be here, why not have fun? School isn’t everything, you know? You gotta live your life.” 

“Yeah, I get that.” The bell rang over Bittle talking. 

“I’ll let you get to class, see you at lunch!”

“Bye Shitty!” Bittle walked off to his math class. He normally just sat in the back by himself, but as he looked around, he noticed Ransom and Holster at one of the tables. As soon as they saw him, they waved him over, and Bittle excitedly ran over. It was good to have friends to sit with. 

\---

It turned out he had friends in most of his classes. He was alone in his English class, but Holster was in his biology class, and Jack was in his history class. He didn’t expect Jack to be the kind of person in a high honors history class, but he still motioned to Bittle to go sit next to him. So he counted that as a win. As the bell rang, Jack grabbed his bag and turned to Bittle. 

“You coming to lunch with us today?” 

“Yeah!” Bittle smiled, gathering his stuff up as well. 

“Have you ever snuck out of school before?” 

“Uh, no?” 

“Here, just stick by me. It’s pretty easy, you’ll get the hang of it eventually, come on.” He started walking, and Bittle rushed to follow him. It was weird walking with Jack. People moved out of the way for him in the hallways, and seemed to have a certain level of respect for him. He understood it, to an extent. Jack was scary. But, Bittle still felt perfectly comfortable with him. 

“Stop for a second.” Jack grabbed his shoulder to still him, and Bitty tried to ignore the way it made his cheeks flush. A few seconds later, a hallway monitor turned the corner. Bitty wondered how he knew the exact time she would walk around the corner. She watched the duo suspiciously, before stopping to question them. 

“Who’s this Jack?” 

“Oh, this is the newest member of the hockey team! Bittle, this is Rhonda, she’s the hallway monitor during lunch.” 

“You better not be teaching him bad habits.” Rhonda ignored the introduction. 

“Oh! Never!” Jack feigned innocence.

“You know I don’t trust you.” She walked off. As soon as she was around the corner, Jack turned to Bittle. 

“Run.” He whispered, then took off. Bittle was right after him. He heard Rhonda yell for them, then begin to run after them, but he ignored her. They rounded another corner, then Jack grabbed his hand, yanking him into the boys' bathroom. The door shut, and they heard her footsteps continue past the door. He turned to Bitty, putting his finger to his lips as he left the bathroom, and Bittle followed them. They then walked right out the door, with no one stopping them. The rest of the team was waiting at their cars for them, and cheered as they approached. Bittle laughed and turned to Jack. 

“I can’t believe I just did that!” He smiled, and Jack smiled back at him. What he wouldn’t give to see that smile always. 

“Come on team, it’s burger time!” They all went to their respective cars, and Bittle knew he didn’t need to ask to ride with Jack and Shitty. 

“So, where are we going?” Bittle asked as they drove off. 

“Annies! It’s this ‘swasome burger restaurant, we go there like every day. We made this kickass hangout spot in the alley right next to it, that’s usually where we eat.” 

“Okay!” Bittle smiled, and off they were. When they got to the restaurant, they all ordered, and when Bitty went to pay, Jack stopped him. 

“Samwell hockey tradition. The team always pays for your first burger at Annie’s.” 

“Yeah!” Holster piped up “This one’s on us, little man.”

After they all got their food, they went to the alley, where there was indeed lawn chairs and folding chairs set up. They all had their specific seats, and while there wasn’t one for Bitty, he didn’t mind sitting on the ground. So he settled next to Shitty’s chair, and they all talked about nothing in particular as they ate. 

“So, Bits, any girls catch your eye yet?” Ransom asked. 

“Ignore them” Jack immediately interrupted. “They try to play cupid with everyone. It doesn’t work out most of the time.” 

“Stop being lame Jack, it was just a question.” Holster reached over to give him a playful punch on the shoulder. “So, Bittle?” 

“Well, uhm, actually” He stopped to take a deep breath. It was okay. He could trust them. He  _ did _ trust them, despite the fact that they had just met. “I, uh, I don’t really swing that way.” 

“Ah, hell yeah man! Gay rights!” Shitty leaned over to give him a high five, and Bittle laughed as he accepted it. 

“So, Bits, any  _ guys  _ catch your eye yet?” Ransom corrected. 

“Oh, no, not really.” He lied, avoiding eye contact with Jack. 

“Come on guys, leave him alone.” Jack laughed. “He just got here, he doesn’t need a boyfriend just yet.” 

“Okay, okay” They gave up. They continued to eat before Shitty checked his phone. 

“Oh, fuck. Lunch is almost over. We should get back to school dudes.” 

Bittle sighed, “I don’t want to go back to school. I’m having such a good time with you guys.” 

“Well, you don’t have to. Remember what I said this morning? School isn’t everything, you gotta live your life man.” Shitty said matter-of-factly. 

“Yeah!” Ransom piped up. “The beach is only an hour from here, what do you say?” 

“Yeah!” Bittle laughed. “Sure!” 


	4. Argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant believe the last ever check please comes out today I am going to Cry. i also cried yesterday when jack proposed. lots of tears. 
> 
> anyways, enjoy the chapter!
> 
> tumblr-vanilla-saturated

The beach was fun. Clouds loomed overhead, and it was obvious it was about to rain, so it was just them. They didn’t go very far into the water, just far enough that Bittle had to roll up the bottoms of his jeans. The rest of the team was wearing shorts, and once again, he was chirped relentlessly for dressing as he did in the middle of the summer. He didn’t mind though. 

Once, he tripped, and almost fell into the water. Jack grabbed him at the last second though, saving him from being soaking wet. He cracked a joke about how light Bitty was. Bittle pretended to be offended. 

They were aimlessly walking up and down the shore, talking about nothing in particular, when Bitty’s phone rang. 

“Yeah?” 

“Eric Richard Bittle!” His mother’s shrill voice rang through the phone, and the whole team stopped to stare at him. It was obvious they all could hear. 

“What?” He asked, trying to calm his nerves. 

“I just got a call saying you weren’t in class! Where the fuck are you! You need to get your ass home right now!” He looked at the team, and they looked back at him. He couldn’t find the words. 

“Let’s try this again. I got a call saying you weren’t in class, so-” 

“I know!” Bittle interrupted her. “I know I’m not in class! I’m just trying to live my life, damn!”

“When you get home, your ass is done! I’m taking your ph-” Bittle hung up on her before she could finish her sentence, and looked up to the whole team staring at him. He felt awfully small. Finally, Shitty stepped towards him. 

“Come on” Shitty began walking towards the truck, grabbing Bitty’s hand. He motioned for the rest of the team to stay behind. Once they were there, he opened up to the door to the truck bed and sat down. He motioned for Bitty to sit next to him. 

“Do you want to go home?” He asked. And it was so genuine, he could tell that Shitty already cared so much, even though they hadn’t known each other for long, and it all came tumbling out. 

“No. I don’t want to. They’re ashamed of me. That’s the whole reason we moved up here. They couldn’t handle the shame that came with having a gay son. How  _ scandalous.  _ How  _ horrible.  _ They took away everything I love. Figure skating and baking and even something as stupid as pop music. And I don’t want to go home because my mother used to be my best friend and now she doesn’t even want me because of something that I can’t even control. Fuck! Honestly, I kinda wished they would’ve kicked me out. It’s better than dealing with them tiptoeing around me and acting like I’m an abomination instead of their child.” When he finished his rant, he looked up and saw Shitty crying. He was pulled into a hug, and Shitty sobbed into his shoulder. 

“I know how you feel. Fuck man, I know exactly how you feel.” 

“You do?” Bitty was crying too now. 

“Yeah. My parents found out I was pan when I was 15. They gave me the emancipation papers themselves. Handed ‘em right over, and told me they never wanted to see my face again. I haven’t talked to my family in years. It would matter except...shit!” Shitty leaned back to wipe the tears off of his face. 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.” Bittle reached over to grab his hand. 

“No, I want to. It’s just, my sister, man. My little sister. She’s only 7. I’m the only one that knows about her being trans. I’m the only one she trusted. She’s the only good one in that whole family and now she’s alone and I haven’t seen her and I’d be fine never seeing anyone in my family ever again, except her.” His voice faltered, and Bittle didn’t know what to say. He just squeezed his hand a little tighter. 

“When I first got kicked out, I started renting this shitty little apartment. It’s not much, but it’s got a couple of bedrooms. Jack lives there with me. Well, most of the time. He goes back to Montreal during school breaks to visit his family. But eventually, the whole team just started pitching in for rent, so that no matter what every member of the team has a place to go if they need it, because believe it or not, a lot of us know what it’s like not to have anywhere safe to sleep. We call it the Haus, it’s some stupid nickname Holster made up when he was drunk. And what I’m trying to say is, we have a spare bedroom, if you’re not ready to go home yet.” 

“Yeah. Yeah, okay. That sounds nice.” Bittle smiled up at him. 

“We should probably get back. They’re probably worried about us. Thank you for trusting me with...all of that.” 

“Well, thank  _ you  _ for trusting  _ me  _ with all of that. I’m really glad you’re in my life Shitty.” Shitty just smiled back at him, and they returned to the group.

“Hey Jack, Bitty’s spending the night with us, okay?” 

“Yeah, of course, that’s fine.” Jack barely looked up from where he was sitting in the sand with Ransom and Holster. 

They sat in the sand, just talking for a while. The vibe had definitely shifted, but it was nice. Bittle felt good. Once the sun began to set, they said their goodbyes to Ransom and Holster, before getting into the truck. 

“I don’t really feel like cooking tonight,” Shitty admitted as they drove home. 

“I don’t really feel like cooking tonight either.” Jack agreed. 

“I’ll cook.” Bittle offered, trying to keep himself from falling asleep in the backseat. 

“No, you’re our guest man. We’re not gonna make you cook. How does takeout sound?” Shitty offered. 

“It sounds good,” Bitty said, and Jack hummed in agreement. 

“Jack, can you google if that one Chinese place is open tonight?” 

“The one with the stir fry?” 

“Exactly. It’s like you can read my mind.” 


	5. Haus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay wow it's been really hard to pace myself for this story. usually i might be a chapter or two ahead of what i've been posting, but right now im about 700 words into chapter 9. i have to stop myself from posting a new part like once every three days because i dont want this to be finished like two weeks from now. ughhh. it's been a long time since i've written this much though, and i'm very thankful bc i had a huge writers block where i didnt write anything for months (literally. theres a 3 month difference from the day i posted the first chapter of this story and the day i posted the second one)
> 
> anyways, the haus isn't the same as the haus in the comic, bc theres no way in hell a band of high schoolers could afford the rent on a literal frat house. so i've included a shitty pen sketch of the haus so you get an idea of the floor plan  
> (edit: oh my god does anyone know how to add pictures directly from ur computers camera roll into a story i am so lost)
> 
> that's all! enjoy the chapter!
> 
> tumblr:vanilla-saturated

It was dark by the time they pulled up into the parking lot of a very run-down apartment complex. Shitty reached back into the car, and gently shook Bittle awake. He sat up, taking a second to reorient himself before hopping out of the truck. The two boys led him up a set of metal stairs on the side of the building, and Shitty grabbed his keys out of his pockets before opening the door.

“Well, here it is brah. Haus sweet haus.” 

“It’s...nice,” Bittle said after taking it all in. And he meant that. Even if the haus smelled like beer, weed, and dirty socks, and the green couch in the living room looked more than questionable, he liked it. It was such a stark contrast from Bitty’s house. It looked like a mess, but it was okay. He could tell the people who lived in this house had fun. They didn’t care what they looked like to outsiders, and their living situation reflected that. There was a certain charm to the imperfectness of it all. He couldn’t help but smile. 

“I’m going to order the food now.” Jack sat on the disgusting couch without a second thought, pulling out his phone to place the order. “What do you guys want?”

“You already know what I want. Bits?” Shitty responded, turning to Bittle. 

“Uhm. Just get whatever's cheapest. I don’t have a lot of money on me.” 

“You sure man? I don’t mind paying.” Shitty asked. 

“I’m sure. Not that hungry anyways.” Bittle said. 

“Well, if you insist.” Jack pressed call, and Shitty turned his full attention to the freshman. 

“Okay! Haus tour! This is the living room, right there is the kitchen, although you can probably see that. Down this hallway is the bathroom, and the two bedrooms. Come on.” Shitty led him down the hallway, opening the door on the left. It was a pretty simple bathroom, just a shower, sink, and toilet. It was a little small, and probably could use a good cleaning, but it wasn’t terrible. Next, they went to the other side of the hallway, where there were two doors. Shitty opened the one closest to the living room. There were two queen-sized mattresses on the floor, and a twin in the corner. By the door, there was a dresser that looked like it was barely standing. There was some hockey gear haphazardly shoved in the corner. 

“Sorry brah, should’ve warned you. None of the beds have frames. The mattresses were expensive enough. And we wanted to make sure we had enough so that the whole team could sleep here if they needed.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I don’t mind.” And he really didn’t. He’d take a sore back and the warm feeling of belonging over his bedroom at home any day. 

“This is Jack and I’s room. Lardo sleeps on that twin, but she’s on foreign exchange right now. She’s fucking awesome though dude. You’re going to love her. She’ll be back soon. We’ll have to throw a party or something.” Shitty exited the room, and Bitty followed. The next room was pretty similar to theirs. A queen, and two twins shoved right next to each other. 

“This is our guest room. I know, it’s not much, but a room is a room. You can pick which bed you want. They’re all fair game. We make sure to wash the sheets regularly, if that’s something you’re worried about.” It wasn’t, but Bittle appreciated the gesture. 

“Thanks, Shitty,” Bitty spoke as he set his backpack down on the queen bed. “This means a lot to me, seriously.”

“Anytime brah. Anytime.” Shitty reached forward, wrapping him in a hug, and Bitty hugged him back. 

“Dinner’s here!” Jack called from the front room. They both pulled away, heading to the living room. Jack distributed the takeout boxes to each person. Bitty pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. 

“How much did this cost?” He asked, already beginning to pull out money. Jack put his hand out to stop him. “No, Jack, seriously, how much do I owe you.” 

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Enjoy your food, Bittle.” Jack said. He was starting to look a little more human to Bitty. 

Jack and Shitty sat down on the couch, and Bittle sat on the floor in front of them. He didn’t trust that couch just yet. When he opened his box, he was pleasantly surprised to find an amazing looking stir fry, loaded with chicken. 

“Chicken has a lot of protein.” Jack pointed out as he handed Bittle his fork. 

“Huh?” Bitty asked. 

“Protein. You need to be eating more of it.” Jack explained, the Shitty turned on the TV. He switched it to a rerun of Wheel of Fortune, and they watched the show while they ate, laughing as Shitty purposely made ridiculous guesses as to what the phrase was. It was the best time Bitty had in awhile. 

Once the program ended, Shitty went to his room, returning with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. He tossed the clothes to Bitty. 

“Take a shower.” That’s all he says before returning to the couch, and Bitty gets up. Even if he had to wear the same pair of underwear afterward, it was the cleanest he felt in a long time. The clothes were a little big, but if he tied the drawstring around his waist tight enough they didn’t fall that much. When he emerged from the bathroom, the living room light was off, but not the light to Shitty and Jack’s room. He walked in to see them both in their pajamas, just lounging in bed on their phones. 

“How was your shower?” Jack asked. 

“It was good. Thanks again, for letting me hijack your house for a night.” 

“Bits. You’re part of our team now. This place is yours now, too. Okay?” Jack looked up at him. Bittle couldn’t help the blush that crept up on his cheeks. 

“Okay. Okay. Thank you.” Jack just smiled at him, before returning to whatever he was watching on his phone. By the sound of it, it was NHL highlights. 

“Hey brah, there’s a box of phone chargers in the kitchen, if you want to grab one to charge your phone tonight. Are you gonna go to school tomorrow?” Shitty piped up. 

“Yeah, I think I am.” 

“You should probably hit the hay then. It’s getting late. Hey, get the light on your way out, okay? We should probably be getting to bed too. Night, Bitty.” 

“Goodnight Bits.” Jack chimed in. 

“Goodnight boys. You two sleep well, alright?” 

“Gotcha.” Shitty mock saluted him, the Bitty was leaving, and turning off the light. True to Shitty’s word, there was a Tupperware box of phone chargers in the kitchen. He rifled through it before he found one that matched his phone, grabbed a glass of water, then headed to bed. He fell asleep before his phone charged. He didn’t see any of the messages left for him. 

He woke up to Shitty knocking quietly on the doorframe. 

“Hey man, time to get up. You know, it’s not too late to ditch.” 

“No, I want to go. Thanks for waking me up.” Bitty sat up. 

“No problem man. Here, they might be a little big, but it’s better than nothing. I tried to guess your belt size, but I have smaller ones if you need em.” Shitty threw him a pile of clothes. Just a simple pair of jeans and a Samwell Hockey t-shirt. “I’ll let you get changed, meet us in the kitchen when you’re ready.” 

Bitty had to roll up the pant legs, and the belt was on it’s tightest notch, but it all fit. The t-shirt was too big, but it smelled like weed and fire smoke. Just like Shitty. He couldn’t help but smile. It was comforting. He walked out to the kitchen, where Jack was nursing a mug of coffee, and Shitty was pulling a Redbull out of the fridge. 

“Morning.” Jack smiled at him, before handing him a protein bar. Bitty rolled his eyes, but took off the wrapper, taking a bite. “There’s more coffee if you want a cup.” 

“Thanks, Jack.” Bitty smiled, before grabbing a mug off of the drying rack. He was relieved to see a bottle of creamer had been set out by the coffee pot. They ate their breakfast in near silence, but it was comforting instead of awkward. Bitty still couldn’t believe that he had only recently met these boys. Once they were all finished, they grabbed their bags, and walked out to the truck. Bitty tried to cover the fact that he was cold, but of course, Jack raised an eyebrow at him as he rubbed his arms. 

When they hopped into the truck, Shitty sped off as usual. Jack grabbed a ball of plain black fabric that was on the dash, and silently tossed it to Bittle in the back. When he unrolled it, he noticed it was a hoodie.  _ Jack’s  _ hoodie. He caught said boy’s attention in the mirror, and gave him a small smile of appreciation before slipping it over his head. It was huge, but that was to be expected. When he looked down, he noticed that little thumb holes had been cut into the sleeves. It was an obvious DIY job. 

Bitty couldn’t help but smile. That was strangely endearing. 


	6. Kegster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay honestly? dont have anything to say about this one. still don't know to insert pictures into your shit so if someone knows pls tell me. anyways, enjoy!
> 
> tumblr: peppermint-x

His parent’s watched them silently as Jack and Shitty led him to his bedroom, making sure he was completely safe before leaving. As soon as they were gone though, his mother was at his door, pounding on it, and demanding for him to open it up. Bittle rolled his eyes, turning up his music volume to drown her out. In a moment of defiance, he put on his pop playlist, and played it loud enough that he knew his mother would hear. He was going to listen to the music that he wanted to listen to. He didn’t care what they thought. He didn’t know what time she gave up on trying to get into his room. He just knew that by the time his alarm for school went off, she was asleep in her room. He got dressed, grabbed his coffee, and left, trying not to wake them. Jack handed him a protein bar as he hopped into the car. At least things were normal with them. 

\---

He was feeling good when he was dropped off at home. He and Shitty had been kicked out of his Home Ec. class for talking too loud, the teacher looking at them disapprovingly as they walked out. She even had the gall to gently pull Bittle aside, and ask him to make better friends before he was too connected with the hockey boys. He just laughed, and he and Shitty sat on the floor in the hallway, backs against the lockers. Shitty pulled out a joint, and offered a hit to Bitty. He accepted, just because he was curious as to what it felt like. He immediately started coughing afterward, and after Shitty made sure he was alright, they laughed about that too. Although he only had one hit, it was just enough for the air to feel a little lighter. Things were a little funnier. He could see the appeal. 

“Seeya tomorrow, brah.” Shitty smiled at him, ruffling his hair as they pulled up to his driveway. Bittle met Jack’s eye in the rearview mirror, and they smiled at each other before Bittle took a deep breath, braced himself, and walked into the house. No one was in the living room, so he went straight upstairs to his room. 

And was met with nothing but a door frame. He stood in the middle of the hallway, shocked for a second before the tears threatened to spill. They took his fucking door. They took his privacy. He threw himself on the bed, trying desperately not to cry as he sat down. Apparently, his bed was loud enough to finally alert his parents of his presence, as his mother was soon standing where his door used to be. 

“Eric. Phone.” She held her hand out for it. He knew he was in trouble. She only ever used his first name when things were serious. He looked at the phone in his hands for a second, then looked back up there. He took a deep breath, then looked her right in the eyes. 

“No.” He said. He hoped his voice didn’t waver. 

“Dicky! I-you-” She stuttered, obviously not knowing how to react. He had never been so blatantly defiant before. 

“No.” He repeated, more confidently this time. “It’s my phone. I bought it. Not you.” 

His mother stood there, shocked for a second, before speaking. “Richard!” She called out. While she was occupied, Bitty got up, grabbed his backpack, and walked across the hallway to the bathroom. He locked himself in and called Shitty. 

“Bits! I was just about to call you! Lardo’s getting back on Friday, we’re gonna throw a rager at the Haus. You should come!” 

“Can I spend the night afterward?” He asked. He wanted to be in his house as little as possible. 

“Of course brah! You don’t even have to ask! Anyway, why didja call?” 

“They took my fucking door.” 

“What?” Shitty was obviously angry. 

“Yeah, I just got home from school. They took my fucking door.” The tears were once again threatening to spill. 

“Are you alright? Do you need me to come to get you?” He could hear Shitty already scrambling for his shoes. 

“No. It’s fine. I’m hiding in the bathroom right now. I think I’m just gonna chill here. I’ve got my leftovers from lunch in my backpack, and a phone charger. It’s one night. Thank you though.” 

“Are you sure?” Shitty asked. 

“Positive. I can sleep in the bathtub. I always wanted to try that as a kid.” Bitty laughed softly, and he could hear Shitty laugh with him.

“Alright, well, call if you change your mind.” 

“Will do. Thanks, Shitty.” 

“No problem.” Then the line went dead. Bitty sighed, pulling out his homework. Might as well do something productive. 

\---

Shitty and Jack picked him up early the next day, so he could avoid his parents. They ended up just driving around town for a little bit, while Shitty rambled on about how excited he was for them to get back. Bitty was excited to meet her, even if he was a little nervous. The rest of the boys also talked about how excited they were during lunch. They had gone and bought Bitty a lawn chair so he didn’t have to sit on the floor when they were at Annie's. Next to his chair, one he didn’t recognize has been set up. It was a plain black fabric chair, obviously well-loved, with designs painted all over it. Shitty had mentioned that she was a painter, but she was way better than Bitty thought she would be. He was excited to meet her. That afternoon, after school, Jack and Shitty dropped him off, and rushed to the airport. They were going to drop her off at the Haus before they picked him up. He went to his room, and began to pack a duffle bag. While he appreciated the last time he spent the night at the Haus, he wanted a toothbrush this time. 

When Shitty’s truck once again rolled into the driveway, he was shocked to see that it was Jack driving, not him. In fact, Jack was the only one in the car. Bitty opened the back door, throwing his bag in the back before sliding into the front seat. 

Jack waited for him to buckle his seatbelt before driving off. He figured that Jack would be a safer driver than Shitty, but he was surprised at the contrast against Shitty’s semi-reckless driving. Just like most other things he did, Jack was very careful. It was kind of relaxing, a mostly silent, smooth car ride. It did help his nerves a little bit. 

There was already music playing from the Haus, although it wasn’t as loud as Bitty would expect. When he looked up, he saw the door open, along with all the windows. 

“Lardo likes the windows open. Something about fresh air.” Jack explained. Bitty didn’t know how he knew he was confused. Bitty grabbed his bag from the truck, and they climbed the stairs into the Haus. 

Bitty didn’t know what he expected Lardo to look like, but it wasn’t what he saw. Lying on the suspicious couch, with her feet resting on Shitty’s lap, was a short Asian girl, with half of her head shaved. He had to admit, she did look pretty cool, with her denim jacket and sunglasses pushed on the top of her head. Bitty got the impression that Lardo was pretty carefree. When she noticed Bitty, she didn’t get up, but she did slide her phone in her pocket, sitting up a little straighter to wave at him. 

“Hey man! You must be Bittle, right? I’m Larissa, but just call me Lardo. Wait, you’re not wearing that at the party, are you?” 

“Uh, I was going to?” Bittle asked, looking down at his outfit. It was just a pair of jeans and a light blue hoodie. He didn’t see what was wrong with it. 

“Come on, we’re fixing this right now.” She hopped off the couch, and Bittle tried to hide his shock at how short she was. He followed her to Jack and Shitty’s room. (Her room too? She had her own bed, but Shitty never mentioned her living with them. He’d ask later.)

“So, what’s wrong with my outfit?” He asked, sitting down on Shitty’s bed as she rifled through her suitcase. 

“First of all, why the fuck are you dressed like that in the summer. Second of all, you need something you can move in at a party. Can’t do a keg stand dressed like that.”

“Um, okay.” He had never really been to a party, he was kinda nervous. 

“Shits told me about what happened with your parents. Sorry to hear that they’re assholes.” She grabbed a bundle of black fabric from her bag, and chucked it toward him. “Here, try those on.” She turned around to give him some privacy while he changed. 

“Well, honestly, I’m just surprised they didn’t do this earlier. Seeing that they barely trust me anymore. Wow, these would seriously piss them off” Bittle looked down at himself. They were the shortest pair of shorts he had ever worn in his life. They were a little more feminine than he would’ve liked, but there was something about them that made him feel powerful. It was the fact that he knew his parents would be  _ seething _ if they saw him like that. 

“That’s the point. You gotta do everything you can to be like ‘Fuck you, Mama Bittle.’ What’s the point of being a teenager if you don’t rebel every once in a while? Wanna piss ‘em off even more?” There was a hint of mischief in her voice, and when he looked over, he saw a bottle of black nail polish in her hand. 

“Hell yeah.” Bittle smiled, sitting down on her bed. He decided that he really liked Lardo. 


	7. Party Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, i dont have much to say about the chapter. a kid gets kicked out of their house tho and there's some homophobia just a heads up. also I didn't beta read this. let me know if there's any mistakes. i should probably get someone to beta read this for me huh
> 
> anyways school makes me want to rip my fucking hair out and I cant even ditch bc its all online now and also I'm at my dads house and I hate it here and being here also makes me want to rip my fucking hair out. that is all
> 
> hope you enjoy!
> 
> tumblr: peppermint-x

Bittle was glad that Lardo made him change. He abandoned his sweater about 5 minutes into the party, leaving only his white t-shirt. The Haus was crowded. According to Shitty, they were known to throw the best parties in town. The only positive thing they were known for, he added. 

He tried all sorts of alcohol, just because it was available to him. He cheered for Shitty when he did a kegstand. He danced with Lardo. Ransom and Holster taught him how to play beer pong, and even though he was nowhere as good as Lardo, he had a knack for it. Boys flirted with him, and he relished in the freedom of being able to smile and flirt back. 

And every half an hour or so, Jack would rip his drink out of his hand, and hand him a cup of water. He noticed that Jack wasn’t drinking, or even partying at all. He sat outside, on the wooden stair rails for most of the party, only coming in to give Bittle water, and once to break up a fight that had started. When it was starting to get a little much for Bitty, he sat out there with him for a few minutes. Just until the world stopped spinning. They didn’t say a word, but Jack did confiscate his drink. Again. It was one of the best nights of his life. 

He woke up sandwiched between Ransom and Holster, on the queen bed in the guest room. He was still in his clothes, although his drunk self at least remembered to take his socks and shoes off. His head was pounding, but it could’ve been worse. He was suddenly very thankful for Jack and his waters. 

Speaking of Jack, he was peeking his head through the doorframe, knocking on the wall with one hand, a cup of water and a bottle of Advil in the other. 

“Hey, Bits.” He spoke softly. “Your mum’s here. Might wanna get up.” 

“Mmm” Bittle groaned, reaching up to accept the water and Advil from Jack. Then the words processed. “Wait, my moms here!” He said a little too loudly, and Ransom and Holster stirred. 

“Yeah, she’s been yelling for you. We were just going to kick her out, but I didn’t know if you wanted to see her or not.” By then Ransom and Holster were fully awake. 

“I think...I think I want to talk to her. Just, not alone.” Bitty began to sit up.

“Don’t worry Bro, we got you.” Holster said, getting up as well. 

“Yeah, we’ll be right there.” Ransom smiled at him, and suddenly he felt a lot better. He stood up, stumbled a bit, and then Holster was there, holding his arm to steady him. 

The front room smelled like eggs, sriracha, and hash browns. Shitty stood by the stove, cooking, while Lardo was sitting on one of the counters, sipping on a gatorade. There was a pounding on the door. Ransom and Holster stayed behind with Bitty, while Jack walked forward to open the door. His mother looked up at him. 

“Where is my son.” She glared at him, each word punctuated. Ransom and Holster held him just a little tighter. He saw Lardo stand up in the corner of his eye, and Shitty turned away from the food. He smiled to himself. He was thankful they were all so prepared to protect him. Jack stepped to the side, and she immediately rushed in towards Bittle. 

“Eric. Richard. Bittle. We brought you up here to  **fix** you, not to have you run off and turn into some delinquent child. We didn’t raise you like this! Boy, I thought I was disappointed in you before, but this? My one and only son. Running away. Drinking at parties. Dressing like a  **whore** . What’s gotten into you Dicky?!” She was in his face by then. He shrunk into Ransom and Holster, and that’s when Jack grabbed her by the shirt collar, and dragged her back out the door. 

“Ma’am. I understand that you’re upset with your son, but that does not give you a right to come into my home, and threaten my teammates. Bitty’s one of us now, whether you like it or not. And I’ll have you know, he’s much happier with us than he is with you.” Bittle had never heard Jack genuinely angry. It sent a shiver down his spine. He was glad that he was on Jack’s good side. His mother went to protest, but faltered when she saw the team glaring at her, ready to use force to protect him if they needed to. 

“Fine! If you don’t want us, then we don’t want you. Your father and I have done everything we can to make you right again. This is something I should’ve done a long time ago. You have until Monday to get your things out of the house.” Then she walked away, without saying a word. Jack shut the door, and the Haus was silent. Shitty returned to his eggs, Lardo grabbed a gatorade for him, and Ransom and Holster grabbed some plates to begin serving the food. Jack slipped away to his room. 

“Can you guys just...act normal please?” Bittle broke the silence. “I don’t want to think about the fact that I just got kicked out.” That was all he needed to say, and suddenly, the life was back into the team, although he could tell that they were still uncomfortable. They were only laughing and joking for his benefit. He was grateful. When Shitty finished the food, he grabbed his plate, and Jack’s too, and headed to his room to drop it off. 

“You good?” Bittle asked, handing Jack his plate, and sitting down on the bed next to him. 

“I should be asking you that. Thanks, by the way.” Jack began eating. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Bittle began eating too. It was silent for a few seconds before Bittle got the courage to ask. 

“What are your parents like?” He felt Jack stiffen beside him. “You don’t have to answer me, if you don’t want to.” 

“No, I do. I just don’t know where to start. They mean well, they really do.” 

“Mhm.” Bittle encouraged. Just to make sure Jack knew he was listening. 

“But, when you’re the son of an NHL legend and a literal supermodel, there's a lot on your plate. From the moment that you’re born. It’s a lot of pressure. And one day, a little bit after my 14th birthday, it got too much. They found me in the bathroom, overdosed on anxiety medication. It was accidental, I think. I don’t remember much of what happened before. As soon as I got out of the hospital, I moved here, for high school. I wanted to make my own legacy, in some small town. The pressure isn’t as strong here. Samwell is just some small town with a small community college. That’s all it is. No pressure to be great. I was living in a hotel for the first month, then I met Shitty. The connection was instant. It wasn’t long before I moved in here. I still fly home for the school breaks, but it’s awkward. They don’t know what to do with me. It’s like they’re walking on eggshells with me. I just wish they would treat me like I was  _ normal. _ ” 

“My parents did the same thing. Got real quiet whenever I entered the room. Thank you for trusting me with all of that.” Bittle got brave, and placed a comforting hand on Jack’s knee. 

“Thanks for listening. I wanted you to know.” Jack smiled at him, and Bitty smiled back. 

They ate the rest of their breakfast alone, in silence. 


	8. Hockey Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay just a warning that updates will probably slow down or stop for the next two weeks. I've had the last few chapters of this fic prewritten, but this is the last one i have. i'd write some more, but ap tests are next week, and so i can't write them this week bc i need to study, and i can't write them next week bc well, I'll be testing. so forgive me if the next update isn't for a little while. i might be able to find time to write a chapter but i can't guarantee it's quality since this is such a high stress time for me. if any of you are curious, the tests I'm taking are us history and calc ab (wanted to take bc, my school doesn't offer it. it was a whole thing. not important)
> 
> anyways i think that's it! enjoy the chapter!!
> 
> tumblr: peppermint-x

As soon as breakfast was over, they moved almost silently. Bitty washed the dishes. Shitty and Jack began clearing out their truck bed. Ransom and Holster hopped on their bikes, rode off, and returned with Holster’s dad’s truck. Lardo went to go bother their landlord, and downstairs neighbor until she agreed to let them borrow a dolly. Bitty got the feeling that she was fed up with their partying, but they were probably the only ones in Samwell willing to rent an apartment that shitty. 

Without the warmth of the party, Bitty’s outfit was suddenly very inadequate for the weather. He shuddered, pulled his arms closer to himself, and went to go change. He sighed, changing into a pair of black jeans and a Samwell hoodie. By the time he had brushed his teeth and gotten a comb through his hair, everything was ready for him. 

“You sure you’re ready?” Ransom asked, looking up at him with concern. “We can always do this tomorrow.”

“No.” Bitty took a deep breath. “I just want to get it done. C’mon guys.” He was the first one out of the Haus, but he could hear his teammates follow him. He settled into his familiar spot in the backseat of Shitty’s truck, and they were off, Ransom, Holster, and Lardo following behind. They pulled up to his house. Well, it wasn’t his house anymore. It was his parent's house. He took a deep breath. When the team convened on the front porch, they all looked to Bitty for the game plan. 

“Okay, so you guys are more here for moral support, I’m not actually taking much. Just my clothes, a few knick-knacks, and my hockey gear. The boxes from when I moved in are still in my room if we want to just start with those.” The team nodded in agreement, and Bitty led them up to his room. They immediately got to work, filling up a box, hauling it down the stairs and into one of the trucks, and repeating. Pretty soon after they started, his parents arrived. He tried to ignore the sting in his throat as they didn’t even bother to look at him. 

When they were done with his bedroom, he took a quick sweep around the room. Before he remembered, hidden in the back of his closet. Even if he would never be able to use them, he still wanted them. He reached back into the closet, and pulled them out. A simple pair of white figure skates. He took them down to the car with him. 

“Alright, that should be everything,” Jack said, as Bitty gently set the skates in the backseat of the truck. 

“Actually.” Bittle hesitated. “There’s a couple of things from the kitchen I want to grab.” He turned around, went back in the house, and began rifling around. His favorite wooden mixing spoon. The coffee mug that he made during a ceramics course. Moomaw’s favorite pie tin, which she gave to him on his thirteenth birthday. The rolling pin that he first learned how to bake with. His apron, identical to his mama’s. The apron was almost insulting him, sitting cherry red, hung up right next to one just like it. The only difference between them was age. It reminded him of what happened before this mess, baking pies in a too warm Georgia kitchen in the summer, laughing with his mother as they sang along to his music. The tears threatened to spill from his eyes. He shook his head and prepared to leave. On the way out, he could help but notice his parents in the living room. They were sitting on the couch, staring at the TV but not actually watching it. 

“Mama. Coach. I’ll be...leaving now.” He took a deep breath. His father just glared at him. 

“Dicky, I-” His mama faltered, not saying anything. He could see the tears in her eyes too, as they snapped to the apron folded up in his arms. Bitty turned around and left before he started sobbing in a living room that was no longer his. He walked out to the truck, climbing in the back. 

“Okay. We’re good. We can leave.” He took a deep breath. He looked down at his hands. In his left thumb, there was a chip in his nail polish. He stared at it for a second. Then, he began to sob. 

\---

Bitty threw himself into hockey practice. He stopped joking with the team in the locker room, stopped untying their skates when one of the boys wasn’t paying attention. He stopped showing up a few minutes late with coffee. It was just hockey. 

With his laser focus, his hockey was improving. He wasn’t shocked. What else should he expect, when he pulled himself out of his new bed at ungodly hours in the morning to shoot pucks into an empty net until it was time for school. 

He went to school more for something to do than anything else. He zoned out in his classes, went to eat lunch with his team, went back to school, zoned out in the rest of his classes, then insisted that Shitty drop him back off at the rink. 

Bittle didn’t know when Jack started joining him. But he wriggled his way into his daily routine, slowly but surely. It started in the mornings. His alarm would go off and Jack would be in the kitchen, cooking breakfast with coffee already brewing in the pot. He never forced it. Just grabbed the truck keys and mentioned that he was heading to Faber, if Bitty wanted a ride. 

Then, he started inviting Bitty to skip history with him. And Jack would drive them around town, pointing out the little landmarks that Bitty had never seen before. His favorite was the old abandoned well. There was still water in it, but the only people who ever drank from it were tourists, who stopped for the night on their way to New York or Boston or Providence. Still, Jack insisted on pulling the bucket up, and bringing it to Bitty’s lips so he could drink some of the water. Apparently everyone in Samwell did it at least once. And if Bitty’s shirt was covered in water afterward, it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

A week after that, the three of them piled into the car like normal. As normal, Bittle asked Shitty to drop him off at Faber on the way. What wasn’t normal was when Jack interrupted him. 

“No. We’re going home.” 

“Huh?” Bitty asked. 

“History project. Due tomorrow. We’re going home, and doing it.” 

For the first time in three weeks, Bittle spent his afternoon somewhere other than Faber. He sat on the floor of Jack and Shitty’s room, and listened as Jack explained World War One to him. Truth be told, Jack did most of the project. Bitty just slapped his name on it. He silently wondered how Jack even knew about this project if they both hadn’t been to class in a week and a half. He wondered why Jack even cared. That night, once it was done, he sat in the living room, and all three of them watched another random game show. It was the first good night in a while. 

Jack couldn’t keep him away from Faber every afternoon, but he tried his best. He didn’t bother trying to stop the morning visits. (Although Bitty suspected that he enjoyed them.) And over the course of the month, not only did Bittle’s hockey improve, but so did his mental health. 

Then, it was the day of their first game. Bittle and Jack had agreed to sleep in. They still woke up earlier than they needed to for school. Lardo had spent the night before, and they got to work making a pb&j for every member on the team. 

It had been the first time in a month that Bittle attended all of his classes that day. It had been a month since he had been kicked out. 

And things were good. The whole team ate their sandwiches in the school cafeteria. (“If we leave campus on a game day we’re not allowed to play brah. Dumb fucking rule from the school board.” Shitty had explained, when Bitty asked why they weren’t eating at their normal spot.) Then, Shitty drove them home. And they had to wait. Wait until it was time to go to the rink. 

Bitty had been debating it for a while. But, it was now or never. He grabbed the closest hoodie and slipped it over his shoulders. It was too big to be his, but he wasn’t going to be out for long. He went to grab his skateboard but was stopped at the door. 

“Is that my sweatshirt?” Jack asked, from where he was sitting on a kitchen counter, Gatorade in hand. 

“Yeah, sorry. I just grabbed the closest one. I won’t be out for long, promise. If you want it back though I can grab one from my room real quick?” Bittle said. 

“Oh no, it’s fine. I was just curious...It looks better on you anyway.” Bittle couldn’t tell if he was imagining the blush on Jack’s face or not. 

“Thanks.” Bittle smiled at him. 

“Where are you going anyways?” Jack asked. 

Bittle sighed. “Just to my parent's house. I’ll be back quick, promise.” 

  
  



	9. Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUYSguysguysguysguysguys
> 
> big news! i got my beta reader into check please!! which means now i finally have someone to beta all my check please shit! goodbye grammar mistakes yeeeehaw. this is officially the first beta read chapter of this fic
> 
> in other news, i wanted to thank you guys for not bitching about the unexpected 2 week hiatus. i knew i was taking a break for ap testing but i didnt expect it to be this long. i feel pretty confident about both my ap tests, so i'll let you know how i ended up doing once scores come out in july
> 
> anyways, i think the contents of this chapter will make up for the extended hiatus. enjoy!!
> 
> tumblr: peppermint-x  
> beta's tumblr: h0n04rys3n10r

Bittle was really starting to regret his choice, as he stared at the door to the house that used to be his. But, he had already come all the way there. And, it was something that he wanted to do, even if he was nervous. 

He grabbed his skateboard and leaned it against the porch before walking up the steps and toward the door. He took a deep breath. He reached his hand up, and knocked. 

“Coming!” He heard his mother’s voice. The door opened, and she very clearly froze, staring at him for a second. It was obvious she was shocked. 

“Dicky! Uh, what are you doing here?” She finally got some words to surface. 

“Well, I, uhm. The team’s first hockey game is tonight, and I want you and Coach to come. It starts at 7.” He played with the strings of Jack’s hoodie, needing something to do with his hands. 

“I’ll ask your father, okay?” His mother said after a considerable amount of silence. 

“Yeah, okay, cool. Uh, bye.” He grabbed his skateboard, and went to walk away. 

“Bye, Dicky.” His mother whispered. He could hear the tears forming in her voice, and normally he’d stop and comfort her. But not now. Not when she was the one who put herself in that position. He set his board on the ground, and began skating away. 

It might have been the most awkward conversation of his life, but he couldn’t help the flood of relief that surged through him as he returned home. 

He was glad he had gone. It provided him the sense of closure that he needed. For the first time in months, he knew what to do next.

\---

Shitty wandered into the kitchen just as he was pulling the pie out of the oven. 

“Holy shit! What is that beautiful smell, you glorious motherfucker!” He ran into the room, pulling Bitty into a bone-crushing hug as soon as the pie was safely set on the counter. 

“Oh, just an apple pie. You’ll have to tell me how good it is. Goodness, I haven’t baked in...well. Months.” He froze. The last time he had baked a pie was back before everything changed. He felt a wave of sadness crash over him. Things would never be the same. He realized after another second of thinking, that he was starting to prefer the new way of things. He didn’t want things to be the same as they were. 4 months before when his parents first found out, he felt like his world was going to end. And the world he was living in had ended. But a new one had emerged. And that new one was shaping up to be pretty beautiful. 

“Woah, Bitty. You’re thinking really loud. What’s up?” 

“I’m just really happy.” Bitty beamed at him and tried to ignore the happy tears that were forming in his eyes. 

Shitty hesitated from where he was grabbing a fork to smile at Bitty. “Brah, I can just tell you’ve had like, the biggest fucking realization. I’m proud of you. It’s good that you’re happy.” 

“Thanks, Shits.” Bitty’s smile softened. 

The moment dissolved when Shitty took a bite from the pie and made the most obscene noise that Bitty had ever heard in his life. 

“Holy SHIT! This is the best goddamn thing I’ve tasted in my life. I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without some Bittle baked goods! You’ve ruined every other food for life brah.” He pressed a kiss to Bitty’s cheek, who giggled as his mustache tickled him. 

“Well, I made way more dough than I ended up needing. What should I make next?”

“If you’re taking requests? Strawberry cream.”

\---

In the end, he made way more pies than was reasonable. He couldn’t keep them all in the Haus. But he just got in the zone after baking so long and Shitty was sitting on the counter and asking him questions and it was so nice and suddenly there were 5 pies. He decided to take them to the game, after a lot of persuading from Shitty. And since he couldn’t think of a better plan, they were carefully packed into the truck, right beside their hockey equipment. 

Jack said that the team wasn’t allowed to eat them until after the game. Bitty sighed, but ultimately agreed with them. New Haven High had a good team, and they needed to be on the top of their game. 

They were given their lines, and Bitty was excited to hear that he was on the second line. For a freshman, that was pretty good in his opinion. So he sat and watched the beginning of the game. 

Jack was amazing. Bitty wasn’t surprised, but this was his first time actually seeing him play. He was so laser-focused on the ice, and Bitty couldn’t help but stare. He avoided looking at the stands. And before he knew it, his line was called on, and he was on the ice. 

Bitty was playing some of the best hockey of his life. All his practicing had been really paying off, and he felt so in sync with his teammates. At one point, he expertly avoided a check and made a beautiful pass toward Wicks. When he glanced back at the bench, Jack was smiling, and gave him a small thumbs up. It gave him the motivation to keep playing. 

The best part of the game didn’t come until the end. They were tied, and Bitty happened to be on the ice. He wanted so desperately to win. You could feel the tension on the ice. Suddenly, before Bitty knew what was happening, the puck connected to his stick tape, and before he could process what was happening, he shot off, and once he was close enough to the goal, he took a random shot and hoped. 

He heard the celebratory screams of the audience before he saw the puck fly right into the net. He was shocked, frozen on the ice. It was only then that he glanced toward the stands. 

People had leapt up from their seats, screaming and clapping. In the very corner, right by the door, he saw two people, quietly seated. His father, staring blankly at the ice. And his mother, who brought her hands up to quietly clap for him. They actually came. He hadn’t expected them to. 

He didn’t have long to process the weird feeling in his chest before his teammates were on him, tackling him to the ground in their celly. Someone (probably Shitty) started a chant of his name, and Ransom and Holster grabbed him, and lifted him up. Bitty couldn’t help but laugh. He felt like he was on top of the world. 

\---

The locker room was wild. Bitty had never seen people demolish his pies the way that they did. But he couldn’t find himself to care. They grabbed forks and ate out of the tins, not even bothering to cut each other separate slices, just digging in where they felt like it. It was one of the happiest moments of his life. But, eventually, everyone filtered out. Soon, it was just Bitty. He assured Shitty that he would find a ride home. He wanted a moment to himself on the ice. He switched out from his hockey skates to his figure skates, changed into his normal clothes, and emerged onto the ice. His legs were shaky, and he wasn’t as good as he used to be, but it felt good to do some of his favorite turns and jumps again. 

He heard a pair of skates hit the ice. He turned around, and there was Jack, back in his day clothes, but still wearing his hockey skates. 

“Oh, Jack. I didn’t realize you were still here.” 

“Yeah, I know you said you’d find a way home, but I know that the city buses stop at ten. So I had Shitty carpool with Lardo, and leave the truck here.” 

“Jack, you didn’t have to do that.” Bitty smiled at him. Despite the fact that Jack was right on center ice, and Bitty was toward the end of the rink, he felt himself talking quietly. Something was different between them, and he couldn’t place it. But whatever it was, he didn’t want to ruin it. 

“No, but I wanted to. That was a gorgeous shot, Bittle.” 

“Thank you.” Bitty smiled. 

“I saw your parents here, did you get a chance to talk to them?” 

“No, they left before I could. I probably wouldn’t have talked to them anyways.”

“That’s good. They don’t deserve someone like you.” Jack said. Bitty wondered when they had both stopped skating. Just that they were both standing and staring at each other. 

“Jack.” 

The rink was silent for a few seconds. 

“Bittle.” 

They stared at each other for another moment. Then, Jack skated forward, and before Bitty could process what was happening, Jack’s lips were on his. His back slammed into the boards as the momentum from Jack’s movement continued. He grabbed Jack’s t-shirt and tugged him closer. 

“Jack,” Bitty repeated after they had pulled away. Jack’s hands were still on his waist, strong and grounding, and he knew that he probably had stars in his eyes as he looked up toward him. 

“Let’s go home, okay Bits?” Jack said but made no attempt to move. 

Bitty smiled before pulling Jack down for another kiss. 

  
  
  



	10. Providence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i honestly have no excuse for how long this has taken. i literally forgot about this fic. that's it. 
> 
> anyways i don't really have much to say. i only have like two weeks left in the school year, which is cool ig. not that it matters bc with the whole corona school thing i have so much free time anyways. its probably not gonna feel any different considering some of my classes have summer work. it is gonna be weird being a senior though. my last year of high school...scary. 
> 
> anyways enjoy the chapter!
> 
> tumblr: peppermint-x  
> betas tumblr: h0n04rys3n10r

Apparently the universe wanted Bitty to continue riding his high. When he woke up there was Jack’s hoodie, the one with the thumbholes cut into the sleeves, sitting freshly washed on the foot of his bed. He grabbed it, and pulled it toward his chest, smiling when he smelt Jack’s cologne on it. Jack washed a hoodie. And sprayed cologne on it. Just to give it to Bitty. He couldn’t help but pull it closer to him, giggling like a schoolgirl. 

The weather was cooling down to a point where Bitty could finally bundle up without being chirped relentlessly by his team. So he felt more than comfortable putting on a random pair of jeans and pulling the hoodie over his head. After he was dressed, he wandered to the kitchen. Seeing that he was the first up, he started a pot of coffee. 

Soon after, an arm was wrapped around him from behind, and there was a soft kiss being pressed to the crown on Bitty’s head. All at once, the giddy feeling rushed through his chest again, and he turned around to bury his head in Jack’s chest. He felt himself being lifted onto the kitchen counter, and suddenly he was at eye level with Jack. He moved his hands from Jack’s waist to his face, pressing their foreheads together. Bitty would be self-conscious about the lovestruck look he was giving Jack, except for the fact that Jack was looking at him the exact same way. He couldn’t stop himself from giggling again, and Jack raised an eyebrow at him, although he was smiling too. 

“What’s funny?” He asked quietly. 

“I’m so happy.” Bitty just smiled at him, and Jack pressed their lips together gently. Shitty soon entered the room, and they broke apart so that Jack could pour them all coffee. Right 80after, Lardo wandered into the kitchen. Bitty still wasn’t sure if she lived with them or not, but it was nice to have her there. 

He went through the school day in a happy daze, barely paying attention in class, but his teachers looked so surprised to see him happy and laughing that they didn’t say anything. They went to lunch at Annie’s, and when Bittle went to their hangout spot, Jack wordlessly grabbed his chair and placed it next to his. The only reaction they got when Jack casually placed his hand on Bitty’s thigh was Holster wiggling his eyebrows at them suggestively. Bitty just laughed. He could never have this in Georgia. He never imagined on that fateful day that things would become so...perfect. 

When they finished with lunch and everyone was heading out, Jack grabbed his arm. 

“Yeah?” Bitty turned around to look at him. 

“Is there any reason you need to finish the school day today?” 

“Not really, why?” 

“Ditch with me?” Jack asked. 

“Yeah, sure! Where are we going?” 

“Ever been to Providence before?” 

“No?” 

“Great.” Jack smiled at him. “It’s beautiful, you’re going to love it. Come on.” Jack smiled at him, and Bitty smiled back as they walked to the truck. 

“Yo, Shits! Could you get a ride back with Rans? Bitty and I are gonna take the truck!” Jack called across the parking lot to Shitty, who was approaching the truck. 

“Yeah brah! Here!” Shitty called back and launched the keys at Jack. Jack fumbled when he caught them, and Bitty couldn’t help but laugh.

The drive was nice. Bitty put in his music and wasn’t embarrassed about singing along softly to it. And Jack would glance soft looks at him whenever he thought Bitty wasn’t looking. When they crossed the state line into Rhode Island, Bitty turned to Jack. 

“So, you never told me why we’re going to Providence in the first place.” 

“Oh. Euh. Well, you know how my dad’s in the NHL?” 

“Yeah?”

“His team is playing the Falconers tonight. And normally when he plays games close to Samwell he gets tickets for the whole team to watch, but tonight I only asked him to get two. So we could go. You know, like a date?”

“Oh my god. Only you would take someone to an NHL game for a first date. Jack ‘110%’ Zimmermann.” Bitty giggled. 

“Oh no, do you not like it? We can go do something else?” 

“Honey, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I’d love to go to an NHL game with you.” Bitty reached over to place his hand over Jack’s on the stick shift. “We could just be sitting on that horrible couch on the Haus and staring at each other and I’d still be the happiest boy in the world. I just want to be around you.” 

“Oh.” Bitty relished the way Jack’s cheeks flushed. He looked towards Bitty. “I’d be around you all the time if I could.”   
“Eyes on the road, Zimmermann,” Bitty said, with no actual bite behind his words. Jack just laughed to himself and turned his attention to the street. Soon enough, they were pulling into the parking at the Falconers arena, and Jack was handing Bitty a ticket. 

“Wait, one last thing,” Jack said, before reaching into the back of the truck. He shuffled around, before pulling out a soft-looking toque, with the Habs logo sewn onto the front. “Gotta support the team.” Jack smiled at him, before shoving the toque on Bitty’s head. Jack himself had one of his dad’s jerseys, which he slipped on over his t-shirt. When he stuck his head through, his hair stuck up, and Bitty’s heart jumpstarted for what felt like the millionth time in the past 24 hours. He couldn’t help but reach out toward Jack and pull him into a soft kiss. 

“I could do that all day.” Bitty sighed happily. 

“I could too. But if we stay in this car any longer we’ll miss the first puck drop.” Jack smiled at him before sliding out of the truck, and in true gentleman fashion, opened up Bitty’s door for him, and helped him hop down. As they made their way to the doors, Bitty reached out, entwining his pinky with Jack’s. 

“Hey, Bitty?” Jack looked down at him as they continued to walk. 

“Yeah?” 

“Be my boyfriend?” 

“Of course.” Bitty beamed up at him, and Jack laced their hands together entirely. 

“Everything feels perfect right now.” He admitted to Jack, as they joined the line of people waiting to get their tickets scanned. 

“Everything is perfect, when I’m with you,” Jack responded. 

“You dork.” Bitty giggled, shoving him gently. Jack laughed with him, and handed both their tickets to the worker when they reached the front of the line. 

Bitty supposed he shouldn’t have been shocked when Jack led them down to seats in the front row, right near the Habs bench, but he still was. 

“This is all so exciting. I’ve never been to an NHL game before.” Bitty admitted as him and Jack sat down. “And these seats are amazing!” 

“Well, had to make your first time memorable, eh?” 

“You’ve already made it memorable.” Bitty found himself smiling like an idiot once again. They made small talk as they waited for the game to start. Finally, as the teams skated onto the ice and warmups began, Jack exaggerated a fake yawn, and stretched his arms, letting one rest over Bitty’s shoulders. 

“Oh my god.” Bitty laughed as he looked at Jack, who seemed pretty proud of himself. “I thought people only did that in the movies.” 

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Jack laughed too. Bitty snuggled closer. They were pulled out of their moment by tapping on the boards in front of them. When Bitty looked, there was a man who looked startlingly like Jack, smiling at them. Jack waved at him, and Bitty gave a small wave too. Jack’s dad gestured at the two, and pointed to Bitty, overdoing his confused face. To explain, Jack simply leaned down to press a soft kiss to Bitty’s head. Jack’s dad simply smiled, gave them an exaggerated wink, then skated off. 

The game was exhilarating. The Habs won, but just barely. Bitty cheered with the crowd and was only a little surprised when a worker came by to take them back to the locker room. Bitty’s first NHL game and he was being escorted into the locker room to meet a living hockey legend. He was a little nervous. 

“Jack!” Jack’s dad pulled him into a hug, and then quickly turned to Bitty. “And who may you be?”

“Oh. Hi, um. Mr. uh. Mr. Jack’s Dad. I’m Eric. Eric Bittle.” Bitty stammered out, reaching his hand out to shake his. 

“Oh, you don’t happen to be the Mr. Bittle that Jack is always talking about, do you?” He said with a lighthearted grin. 

“Daaad.” Jack groaned. 

“You know I’m just teasing you son. Bittle?” He suddenly got serious. 

“Yes?”

“You better not hurt my son, you hear?”

“Oh, no, I would never!” Bittle said. 

“Great!” His cheery smile was back. “Also, call me Bob.” 

“Okay,” Bitty responded. 

“Anyways, I’m going to go get drinks with the boys to celebrate the win. I’d invite you two along, but, ya know.”

“I was going to take Bittle to dinner, we haven’t eaten yet.” 

“Oh, that’s perfect! I’ll let you guys get going. Jack, your mother says to call more often.”

“I will.” Jack gave his dad another hug. 

“It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Zimmermann.” Bitty went to go shake Bob’s hand but was instead pulled into a fierce hug. It reminded him a little bit of Shitty. 

“Cmon, Bits. Let’s go get food.” Jack put his arms around his shoulders, and steered him out of the locker room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact my dumbass originally put that providence was in new hampshire and was like "wait a minute...thats not right" and i had to FUCKING GOOGLE WHAT STATE PROVIDENCE WAS IN


	11. Knights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, you're probably going "bee. what the fuck. you don't post for two weeks and then when you do it's a filler chapter." i Know this, but idk things just started happening in my life again. my last day of school was last thursday, and then my older brother graduated, and he's the oldest in the family so he was the first one to graduate which means it was like a huge Thing and then i got super emotional bc he's my only sibling and whose gonna kill the moths in my room when he leaves bc i sure as hell am not doing it but anyways yeah this just happened I'm sorry
> 
> in other news, I'm going on a road trip soon. I'm gonna try and stockpile chapters and get someone else to post them because i hate how i keep having unintentional hiatuses. and i cant write on the road, and i sure as hell am not gonna write gay fanfic in the same hotel room as my homophobic family, so i think the stockpile route will work best. ill ask my beta reader or someone to post the shit for me
> 
> last thing! i know, this note is getting long, sorry. but i finally sat down and made a separate check please sideblog!! it's something I've wanted to do for a while and i finally sat down and just fucking did it. it's bittle-hxney if you wanna follow! I'll also post real hockey things there sometimes, but its mainly a check please blog
> 
> that's it! enjoy the chapter!
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omcp blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r

“Heyyyy, Bitty-Bop,” Ransom whispered to Bitty, sliding his completed worksheet over to Holster, who began frantically copying down the math problems. 

“What’s up?” Bitty whispered back. 

“Do you know your parents’ address?” Ransom asked. 

“Yeah, why?” 

“Well, Holster already bought the eggs and the toilet paper, and Lardo got her hands on some spray paint, so now we just need to know which house we’re targeting,” Ransom explained. 

“Oh my goodness.” Bitty couldn’t help but laugh. “Y’all didn’t!” 

“Yeah, we did.” Holster piped up, sliding the worksheet to Bitty. The teacher cleared her throat and glared at them, and they all rushed to make it look like they were actually doing their worksheets. Bitty knew they weren’t being sneaky. He didn’t care. 

“When were you guys planning on doing it?” Bitty asked, taking care to be quiet. 

“I don’t know, sometime later this week.” Holster said. 

“Take me with you? I wanna help.” 

“Oh, sure.” Ransom smiled at him as the bell rang. They tried to ignore the dirty look their teacher gave them as they turned their papers in. They crushed him in a hug, and Bitty went on his way to English. 

\---

The rest of the day was a non-event. The only noteworthy occurrence was when his Home Ec. teacher kicked him and Shitty out, again. He was starting to think that she was beginning to hate him too. Not that it mattered. He was happy. 

Shitty was showering, and Bitty was curled up against Jack’s side on the suspicious couch, trying not to nod off as Jack muttered quietly about the Treaty of Versaille. He just needed to stay awake long enough to get his turn in the shower and then he could curl up into bed and maybe skip math in the morning so that he could sleep in longer. Jack and Shitty might not let him though, it was getting dangerously stormy, and they probably didn’t want him out on his skateboard in the inclimate weather. 

There was a knock on the door, and Bitty quietly groaned. 

“I’ll get it,” Jack said, beginning to get up. 

“No, no, sit back down sweetpea. I need something to keep me awake anyway.” Bitty hauled himself up, and answered the door. 

He didn’t expect to see a child there, duffle bag in one arm, teddy bear in the other. 

“Is Byron here?” 

“Huh?”

“Bryon Knight! I asked people! They said he was here!” 

“Knight? You mean Shi-” Bitty cut himself off, realizing he probably shouldn’t say his name in front of a kid. 

“He’s in the shower, but he’ll be out in a few seconds if you wanna come in. It’s so cold honey, you really should be wearing more than just a t-shirt. Here, do you like apple pie? We have a couple of slices left.” Bitty ushered the kid inside, and set them up on the couch, going to the kitchen to retrieve a slice of pie. By that time Jack had sat up and was trying to talk to them. 

Bitty had just finished plating up the pie when he heard the shower click off. Soon, Shitty appeared, in nothing but sweatpants. 

“Hey Jack, have you seen my comb? Holy shit! Sienna?” He rushed toward the kid, and Bitty couldn’t help but give out a sigh of relief. 

“B!” The kid immediately perked up, rushing into the Shitty’s arms. 

“Woah! I-how are you here? I thought mom and dad said you weren’t going to talk to me anymore.” 

Sienna was suddenly quiet. “They found one of my dresses. My favorite pink one that you bought me.” Bitty had a feeling that information wasn’t meant for him, and felt a little bad for hearing it.

“Oh.” Shitty clutched her to his chest, suddenly serious, before pulling back. “Guys, this is my little sister! Remember Bits, I told you about her that day at the beach.” 

“Oh my goodness, yes!” Bitty smiled. “Here princess, your pies going to get cold.” Bitty handed her a plate, and was surprised to see that she was beaming. 

“Euh, hey. I’m Jack.” He stuck his hand out toward her. She laughed, before shaking it very aggressively, and digging into her pie. She and Shitty were catching up, and Bitty could see why she was his favorite. He didn’t expect Shitty to be so good with kids, but he and his sister got on like a house on fire. He made eye contact with Jack, and he wordlessly nodded toward the bedrooms. 

“Let’s sleep in my bed tonight hun. Give them some time alone.” Bitty whispered, grabbing Jack’s hand. He could shower in the morning. 

\---

“Okay, so you’re gonna wanna be careful. You gotta hit it hard enough that it’ll break, but not so hard that it shatters. Watch.” He grabbed the egg in his right hand, then cracked it against the bowl, letting the yolk pour in. Bitty was in charge of watching Sienna while Shitty and Jack went to buy her some necessities, and she had insisted on learning to crack an egg one-handed after seeing him do it. So there he was. He was a pretty good teacher if he did say so himself. 

“You should start a youtube channel and teach people how to bake,” Sienna said, grabbing an egg. And Bitty kind of liked the sound of that. 

“I’ll think about it.” He said seriously, then watched as Sienna smashed her egg against the rim of the bowl. He managed to catch any shell pieces before they got into the batter. He was silently glad that he was having her try this on sugar cookies, and not something complicated. 

“It’s okay hun, this took me weeks to learn how to do right. And that was a pretty good attempt.” He smiled at her. She smiled back, and he continued walking her through the steps of the cookies. 

By the time Jack and Shitty came home, there was a plate of unicorn-shaped cookies frosted in neon colors sitting on the counter. Sienna’s hands were also covered in food coloring, as Bitty underestimated just how messy kids were. 

He really liked this kid. 

\---

Jack’s things had been slowly migrating to Bitty’s room. And Jack himself was spending more nights in Bitty’s bed than his own. He said it was to give Sienna space, but Bitty was pretty sure he just liked sharing the bed with him. 

He didn’t mind. 

What he did mind was when the door burst open as he slept peacefully in Jack’s arms, and the light slammed on. Bitty jumped, and Jack went to protect him before realizing there wasn’t any danger. 

“Guys, what the hell.” Bitty stared up at Lardo, Ransom, and Holster. 

“You said you wanted to come with us.” Holster smiled, holding up a plastic store bag. The spray paint cans clinked as it moved. 

“Yeah, I said I wanted to come with you, not get ambushed in my own home in the middle of the night.” Bitty rubbed his eyes. 

“What’s going on?” Jack asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Bitty’s parents are about to get fucking OWNED!” Ransom shouted.

“Dude! I know we’re awake, but some of the people in this house are actually sleeping.” Lardo scolded him. 

“Oh, cool.” Jack was already drifting back off to sleep. 

“Go back to sleep honey. I’ll be back before you even wake up again.” Bitty leaned up and pressed a kiss to Jack’s forehead, before begrudgingly rolling out of bed. He shivered without the blanket, so he leaned down to grab Jack’s discarded hoodie from the foot of the bed. 

“My shoes are by the door. Come on.” Bitty smiled at them, pocketing his phone. 

He was antsy the whole car ride there. What if they got caught? But Holster assured them that they had done this many times before. When they finally arrived, Lardo opened the egg carton, and handed one to Bitty. 

“You get the honors, bud. First egg.” 

Bitty stared at it, turning it over in his hands for a few seconds, before taking a few steps back, running forward, and chucking it. It hit the wall with a satisfying crunch, and suddenly it was a free for all. Once the eggs were exhausted Ransom lifted him on his shoulders to stream toilet paper through the tree in the front yard, and Lardo taught him a few cool spray painting tricks. 

When they were done the house looked trashed. It was a petty action, he’d admit, but it felt good. Bitty felt good. The adrenaline wore off in the car, and he slowly fell asleep on Lardo’s shoulder. 

He didn’t know who carried him inside, but he did wake up in Jack’s arms, so things were pretty great. 

  
  
  
  



	12. Yeehaw Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! This is Hunter, the beta reader for Bee's fics! No need to wonder too hard about why the beta reader is chatting in the notes, though, 'cause Bee is just on a road trip for a little while, and I'm in charge of posting chapters for them until they're back! They do still have access to the internet, so they can respond to comments and dms!
> 
> Honestly, my favorite part about this chapter is Sienna. She's adorable~!
> 
> Bee just made a new omgcp sideblog! Check it out for me, would ya? the URL is bittle-hxney 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy the chapter as much as I did! Remember to leave your love! <3
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r [that's me! :-D]

Bitty ignored the commotion coming from the front room after he woke up. He instead sat there while the morning sun streamed past the blinds, and softly traced Jack’s face. But he couldn’t ignore the excitement forever, and eventually, he sighed to himself and got up, giving Jack a kiss on the forehead as he left. 

“Bits! The man of the hour!” Holster shouted as Bitty stumbled into the kitchen. Shitty, obviously on the phone, gave him a dirty look, before going back to talking. Ransom was highlighting a newspaper article, and Lardo was attempting conversation with Sienna. He knew that Lardo hated kids, but it was nice to see her try. 

“Bits! The man of the hour!” Holster stage whispered, grabbing the newspaper from Ransom’s hands and shoving it towards him. Bitty’s eyes dropped to the article that was highlighted. 

**_Another Vandalism_ **

**_Houses all across Samwell have been hit by rowdy teenagers for years, and last night another occurred on Fox Street. There wasn’t time to interview the occupants before the release of this paper, but the damage was bad. There seemed to be toilet paper, eggs, and spray paint. Suspects are unknown._ **

“We got in the paper!” Ransom whispered, looking excited. 

“How did they get that out so fast, we literally did that last night?!” Bitty exclaimed. Shitty gave him a dirty look, and Bitty apologized before looking back to the paper. 

“It seemed like a pretty last-minute print. Besides, there isn’t much happening in Samwell for them to talk about. They gotta fill the pages somehow.” Lardo piped up. 

“Huh,” Bitty said, before going to grab a cup of coffee. 

“Uh-huh. No. Nope. Yeah. Great, thank you so much!” Shitty exclaimed before setting down his phone. “Jesus fuck brahs, do you know how hard it is to rush enroll a bitch in school without any paperwork?? I had to cite 84 million fucking laws to get her in.”

“Maybe you should be a lawyer.” Holster chimed in. 

“That would be sick.” Shitty agreed. 

“You would know so many laws,” Sienna said. 

“Anyways, you’re free of that pretentious private school shit. Welcome to the wonderful world of public school Sienna.”

“Woohoo.” Lardo deadpanned. 

“Lardo, show some enthusiasm!” Bitty scolded, before turning to Sienna. “You’re gonna love it hun, promise.”

“Who’s gonna love what?” Jack stumbled in, rubbing his eyes. Bitty melted a little bit internally. 

“Sienna is gonna love public school!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s cool there.” He smiled at her, before ruffling her hair. She giggled softly, and Bitty melted a little bit more. He knew that Jack was good with kids, that he volunteered as an assistant coach for a peewee team back when he lived with his parents, but actually  _ seeing  _ him be good with kids did something to the butterflies in his stomach. 

“Speaking of, I need someone to take her today. I don’t want her walking on her own, and they can’t get her on the bus until next week.”

“I’ll do it,” Bitty said. “I’m pretty sure our math teacher hates me anyway.”

“Swasome. Thanks, man.” Shitty reached up to fistbump him. 

“No problem.” Bitty smiled. 

“Are you sure? It’s pretty cold out bud. I can drive her.” Jack said. 

“It’s 50 degrees!” Holster chimed in. 

“And he’s from yeehaw land. He’s a yeehaw bitch. This is cold for them.” Shitty joked. 

“I’ll be fine hun, you all need the truck anyway.” Bitty leaned up to give Jack a quick kiss. Ransom just raised his eyebrows and pointed toward the fine jar. Jack sighed and fished his wallet out of his pocket, pulling some money out and dropping it in. 

“Hey, Lil S, where’s your backpack?” Holster asked. 

“Here.” Lardo grabbed it from the ground. It was obviously painted by Lardo, with paint splashes in different shades of pink. 

“Okay, you ready? We should probably go if we’re walking.” Bitty grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. 

“Mhm!” Sienna hopped off the counter, and after prying her away from Shitty, they started walking. 

“Mr. Bitty?” Sienna asked.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s yeehaw land?” 

“What?” Bitty couldn’t help but laugh. 

“B said that you’re from yeehaw land. But I don’t know where that is.” 

“Oh!” He was still giggling. “He was just giving me a hard time honey. Yeehaw land doesn’t exist. I’m from Georgia.”

“Where’s Georgia?”

“In the south.” 

“Is it hot down there?”

“Very.”

“And that’s why B and Mr. Holster were making fun of you. Because you’re from the hot place.” 

“Yup.” 

“Why’d you come here then?” 

“Oh. Well. The people down in Georgia weren’t very nice to me.” 

“And they’re nice to you here?” 

“Yes. Your brother was my very first friend here actually.” 

“That’s cool. He’s cool.” 

“He is.” Bitty smiled at her. They walked in silence for a while, and when they crossed onto Main Street, he couldn’t help but notice a bakery. When they approached, he saw there was a sign out front. 

“Now hiring.” He read out loud. 

“What?” 

“Oh, just talking to myself honey.” He grabbed an application before continuing his walk. He needed to start contributing to Haus rent anyways. He knew the boys would be fine with him living there rent-free, but he did feel bad about it. Hell, Ransom and Holster pitched in for rent and they didn’t even live there. 

Eventually, they got to the school, and he walked her into the front office. 

“Hey, can I help you?” The receptionist looked up from her computer at them. 

“Yeah, um, I’m here to drop off Sienna Knight? She should’ve been enrolled earlier this morning. Her brother called.” 

“Oh! Yes! Mr. Knight was...very eccentric. Is this her?”

“Yup!” Sienna piped in, smiling up at the receptionist. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, son. Every student in Samwell goes to this school as a kid.” 

“Oh, yeah. I moved up here over the summer. I’m Eric. Bittle.” Bitty extended his hand. 

“Well, aren’t you polite! You can call me Mrs. K. Everyone around here does. How old are you? What grade are you in?” 

“Oh, I’m 14. I’m a freshman.” 

Mrs. K did a double-take. “14? Isn’t that a little young to be taking other people’s kids to school? Shouldn’t  _ you _ be at school?” 

“Oh, yeah. I’m walking there right after this. Is there anything I need to sign or is she good?” 

“No, there’s nothing you need to sign.” Mrs. K reached into her desk, grabbed a piece of paper, and scribbled her signature onto it, along with the date. She handed it to Bitty, and he took it. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a pass for the local bus. 

“The high school’s across town, kid. I’m not letting you walk there. Now, Sienna, let me show you your new class, okay?” 

“Okay! Goodbye Mr. Bitty!” 

“Bye honey.” He smiled and leaned down to hug her. “Either your brother or Jack will be here to pick you up after school, okay?”

“Okay!” She waved to him one last time before Mrs. K grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. 

Bitty took a deep breath, now alone. So much had happened in the past few months. He certainly didn’t feel as young as he was. It was strange, to be treated like a child when he had a job application in his bag because he was worried about rent. 

He reasoned that Mrs. K spent all day with elementary schoolers. She was probably used to treating everyone like a child. Bitty had to leave soon, or he would miss the bus. He walked out to the stop just in time for the maroon bus to show up, “ **SAMWELL TRANSIT”** printed on the side. 

Well, he thought to himself as he handed the driver his pass. At least he didn’t have to walk. 

  
  



	13. First Job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Hunter [the beta reader] here again! <3 Bee is still on their vacation, but they have internet so they can respond to comments and dms! Also please don't mind that mis-post just now, I'm still new to posting chapters. 😔
> 
> Shitty and Lardo are finally getting closer in this chapter and it makes me happy. <333 Honestly they're my favorite couple in omgcp; sorry, not sorry to Jack and Bittle. 
> 
> Bee just made a new omgcp sideblog! Give it a look-see, why don't ya? The URL is bittle-hxney
> 
> Now go and enjoy Bee's writing as much as I do! Leave a comment if you please. <3
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp sideblog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r [that's me! :-D]

Bitty got to school towards the end of second period. He figured it wasn’t worth listening to only the last ten minutes on a lecture about Romeo and Juliet, so he just set his stuff down by his locker, and sat down to browse twitter while he waited for the bell to ring. 

His plans were foiled by Rhonda walking down the hallway. 

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in class?” She called as she began to walk towards him. 

“Huh?” He glanced up from his phone. “Oh, yeah.” 

“You’re one of those hockey boys, aren’t you.”

“How could you tell?”

“Hopeless, the whole lot of you. The only one of you little fellas with an ounce of respect for authority is that Zimmermann kid. And even he’s on thin ice.” 

Bitty snorted. 

“What’s so funny.” 

“Thin ice.”

“What?”

“We’re hockey players.” 

“Just, get to class kid. You’re far too young to not care about things like this.” The bell interrupted her as she went to continue her speech. Bitty wordlessly got up and began walking towards his bio class. 

“I care about plenty of things.” He mumbled to himself. This was the second adult to treat him weirdly in the past two hours. He shook his head and pulled open the door to his class. 

\---

They ended up doing a lab in bio, so his hands were pretty occupied. When he got to history, he took his usual seat next to Jack and pulled the application out of his bag. 

“What’s that?” Jack asked as he began filling it out. 

“Job application. That bakery on Main Street is hiring. I can’t actually make the food till I’m 16, but even being a cashier there might be fun, you know?” 

“Bits, you don’t have to help with Haus rent. You’re young. We know that.” 

“Why does everyone keep mentioning how young I am? That doesn’t make me less capable of contributing. I want to be able to support myself. I don’t want to ride off of everyone else’s hard work forever.” 

“I understand that.” Jack placed his hand on Bitty’s thigh. “Let me help you fill that out, eh?” 

“Thank you.” Bitty smiled at him.

The teacher shushed them after that, but Jack whispered advice to him the whole class anyways, hand intertwined with Bitty’s underneath the desk.

Soon, the bell rang for lunch, and Jack walked with him to Main Street. 

“It’s a far walk, I know, but Shits wanted the truck. I think he’s going to try and take Lardo on a date after lunch.” Jack apologized as they stepped off-campus. 

Bitty would walk all the way to Georgia if Jack Zimmermann was at his side. He didn’t say that. Instead, he leaned a little closer to Jack, savoring something he thought he would never get to have. 

“Finally. Those two have been dancing around each other since I met them.” 

“Longer, actually. You should’ve seen him when we were freshmen.” 

“Yeah?” Bitty looked up at him. 

“Yeah. He stole some paint for her once from a hobby lobby back in Boston.” 

“Good. They’re homophobic.” Jack laughed softly at his comment. 

They walked in silence for the rest of the walk. Jack waited outside while Bitty went in to drop it off. When he came back, Jack was speaking french into his phone. His eyes softened when he saw Bitty, and he silently reached out for his hand. Bitty took it, and Jack began walking them back towards the Haus. Bitty raised his eyebrows at him, and Jack hurried to finish up his call with whoever he was talking to. 

“Sorry.” His accent was thicker than usual, and Bitty almost swooned. “We were on this side of town anyway, I figured that we could just go home. By the time we got back to school class would be over.”

“That makes sense. Who were you talking to?” 

“Oh, just Papa. We’re ironing out plane tickets. Fall break is soon, they want me to fly back home.” 

“Oh, yeah, break.” Bitty had been avoiding thinking about it, but it was drawing closer. They only had one more game left until the break. In two weeks, Jack would be in Montreal, Ransom and Holster would be in California, and Shitty, Sienna, and Lardo would be in Andover, busy with emancipation court sessions. 

And he would be alone. His parents had three tickets for flights back to Georgia. One of them wasn’t going to be used. 

“Come on bud, we’ve got a few hours to ourselves before practice tonight.” Jack snapped him out of his own head. 

“Perfect. I want you to tell me everything you know about World War Two.” Bitty squeezed his hand a little tighter. He still had this for a while longer. And it wasn’t leaving him forever. They would come back. 

\---

Shitty and Lardo were still gone with the truck by the time Bitty’s alarm went off, so he just went back to sleep. He managed to convince Jack to join him, after his morning run. They were just drifting back to sleep again with Bitty’s phone went off. Jack groaned, and handed it to him. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Eric Bittle?” 

“This is. What do you need.” 

“This is M.K. Bakery. We just wanted to call and let you know that you got the job!” 

“Oh! Wow! Thank you so much! When do I start?” 

“We’ll email you your schedule. Congratulations Mr. Bittle.” 

“Thank you, again!” Bitty smiled before the connection ended. 

“I got-”    
  


“I know.” Jack interrupted him. “I’m so proud of you, Bits.” 

“Thank you.” Bitty responded, eyes a little watery. Jack just tackled him back down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. 

\---

He announces it to the team at Annie’s the next day. 

“Hey, remember how I applied for the job at the bakery?” Bitty said, pulling the wrapper off his burger. 

“Yeah, have they called you back yet?” Lardo asked. 

“They did yesterday morning. I got the job.” 

“Holy shit, really! Congrats, man! Ohhh, this calls for a fuckin’ KEGSTER!” Shitty shouted. 

“Kegster! For Bitty’s first job. That’s swasome! Congrats!” Ransom smiled at him. 

“You’re gonna be a little baker boy!” Holster smiled. 

“Oh, not yet. I’m just going to be a cashier for now. I can’t start actually doing the baking until I’m 16.” 

“That’s cool too! You’re very likable. You should be a fuckin’ vlogger or something. I bet you’d make bank.” Holster responded. 

“Bro, that would be sick. Bitty adventures on youtube.” Lardo chimed in. 

“You could teach them how to bake shit!” Shitty said through a mouthful of burger. 

“Gross, Shits.” Lardo rolled her eyes fondly. 

“You heard the verdict, guess you gotta make a youtube channel now.” Jack smiled at him. 

“I don’t know. I might think about it.” He said. It would certainly make the school breaks less lonely. And he knew he could make money from it at a certain point. And income was income. 

\---

The kegster was planned at a terrifying efficiency. Sienna was sent to the Oluransi’s to spend the night, where Ransom had two twin brothers, around her age. Anything expensive was stored in Jack and Shitty’s room (although lately, it had been mostly Shitty’s room, Jack choosing to sleep in Bitty’s bed). Bitty made some kegster pies, and before he knew it Ransom and Holster had shown up with sound equipment, plugging them in with practiced efficiency. They were sure to inform him that the playlist was filled with Beyonce, as it was his celebratory kegster. 

Most of the people there had no idea why there was a party, just that there was one. A few people did come up to congratulate him, which he was thankful for. Jack still was careful about his alcohol consumption, but it didn’t bother him like he did before. He knew that Jack was just looking out for him. And it was really, really, hard to be upset with Jack when his hands were firm on his waist as they danced. 

In the morning, he woke up in Jack’s bed, with Shitty and Lardo asleep across the room. He knew Ransom and Holster were probably in his bed, but he didn’t care. He needed to wash his sheets anyway. 

He rolled over, tucked himself under Jack’s arm, and went back to sleep. 


	14. Peach Jam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Sorry for being a bit late with posting [even if there's not an actual schedule]. It's James [formerly [and still] Hunter] the beta reader! Bee still has internet, so they can respond to any comments and dms you leave!
> 
> I absolutely adore the way Bee writes all the characters in their fics, but with this one especially I'm specifically talking about Jack. He's so damn pure! [insert image of me crying holding up my fist in a sparkly spotlight]
> 
> Bee just made a new omgcp side blog! Take a peek for me? The URL is bittle-hxney
> 
> Now let us all sit quietly for about 20 minutes as we take in the amazing writing that is Bee's.
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp side blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r [that's me~!]

“LAST GAME OF THE QUARTER MOTHERFUCKERS!” Shitty shouted. Bitty leaned up from the bed to flip him off, before throwing his head back into the pillows. Shitty grabbed one of his own pillows and chucked it at him. It missed, hitting the floor with a soft thump, and he heard Jack giggle softly beside him. 

“I was sleepin’,” Bittle mumbled into his pillow. Jack reached over and carded his fingers through his hair. 

“You gotta get up Bits. We’ve got sandwiches to make.” Jack smiled at him. 

“Make ‘em without me,” Bitty said. 

“Nope. The first time you made sandwiches with us we won the game.” 

“Yeah, game-day superstition brah.” Shitty chimed in. 

“Damn it,” Bitty sighed, sitting up. “Give me a minute, okay?” 

“Sure, come on Shits.” Jack got up. “I’ll start the coffee, okay Bud?” 

“That sounds wonderful. Thank you, sweetpea.” Bitty smiled at Jack. Soon, he was alone in the room. His phone pinged, and he went to grab it. 

**SIENNA DAD SQUAD (and lardo) [aka smh] {aka pussy destroyers} ((except bitty)) [[and jack]]**

shitty GAME DAY MOTHERFUCKERS  **6:03 am**

ransom FUCK YEAH  **6:03 am**

holster FUCK ANDOVER PREP  **6:03 am**

jack<3 Didn’t Shitty go to Andover Prep for middle school?  **6:04 am**

shitty no it’s okay they’re all pretentious assholes  **6:04 am**

shitty fuck andover prep  **6:04 am**

me who keeps adding to the group chat name it’s getting too long  **6:04 am**

lardo it’s a community effort bitty  **6:05 am**

lardo like living artwork  **6:05 am**

ransom fuck yeah  **6:05 am**

holster fuck yeah  **6:06 am**

shitty fuck yeah  **6:06 am**

me okay y’all, i need a count. how many of you want white bread and how many of you want whole grain? also, is someone fine with having peach jam instead of raspberry? there’s only a little left and i wanna use it up before it expires  **6:07 am**

\---

Jack drew plays in his notes instead of paying attention during history class. Jack made little sound effects as he acted them out on his paper. Bittle noticed. He didn’t care. He liked that Jack was a giant dork. He also liked that he had a special sound effect, a higher-pitched whoosh than the rest of them. 

He asked Jack about it once. He said it was to signify that Bitty was faster than the rest of them. 

So Bitty took actual notes, and listened to Jack whisper “whoosh.” and “thunk.” and “goallll.” under his breath in his adorable accent, and Bitty tried not to spend the whole class distracted by him. 

He only slightly failed. He knew a few new things about trench warfare, but not as much as he should. 

When the bell rang, he glanced over at Jack’s paper. Names of his teammates were plastered all over the page on tiny replica ice rinks, surrounded by arrows and notes and opposing players marked by little angry faces.

Many of the plays involved “Bittle <3” scoring a goal. 

He liked that Jack always put a heart after his name. He really was a fucking dork. 

\---

“Holy shit Bitty, you’ve gotta make my sandwiches with peach jam every game day. This is fucking delicious!” Holster raved, taking another bite of his sandwich. 

“Really?” Ransom reached over, grabbed the sandwich, and took a bite. “Holy fuck!” 

Holster ended up not getting much of his sandwich after the team took turns taking bites out of it. Jack even tore off a little corner and popped it in his mouth. Holster ended up with only a small bit left of his own sandwich. Bitty smiled and wordlessly handed him half of his sandwich. 

He could always steal Jack’s if he was still hungry. He wouldn’t mind. 

“You know, if we win you’re going to have to make them with peach jam every week.” Jack leaned down to talk to him. 

“Oh no! Peaches are out of season!” Bitty responded. 

\---

“So,” Shitty leaned on the counter as Bitty continued to stir the brownie mix. “Do you think Mrs. H would care if we made these into  _ special brownies _ .” 

“Absolutely. I don’t think you want to fail Home Ec. for the third time. Besides, I don’t think Jack will be too happy if you’re high during the game.”

“You’re right. Wise beyond your years, Eric Bittle. Do you think you could make me special brownies after the game?” Shitty asked. 

“I’m not baking anything  _ special  _ for you mister, but if you want to bake them yourself, I’ll give you the recipe.” 

“You’re the best.” Shitty smiled at him. 

“Mr. Knight! I know you are  **not** going to sit there while Mr. Bittle does all the work. This is a team effort for a reason!” Mrs. H shouted from across the room. 

“Well, shit. Teach me about brownies Bitty-boy.” Shitty hopped off the counter and shot him a grin. 

Mrs. H stopped him on the way out. “It’s still not too late to make some better friends, Mr. Bittle.” 

“Oh, bless your heart.” He giggled. “I like the ones I have perfectly fine.” 

\---

His parents were at the game. They were at every game, sitting in the corner. They never talked to him afterward. It wasn’t a huge deal. He didn’t really care anymore. 

Besides, it was much more exciting to wave at Sienna as she sat with the Oluransis, holding up an obviously handmade sign. 

“Bitty-Bop, your folks keep staring at us,” Ransom said as they waited on the bench during half time. 

“They always do, just ignore them. That’s what I do.” 

“Just ignore who?” Jack returned from talking strategy with the coaches. M

“Bitty’s parents. They keep staring.” Holster said. 

“Well, might as well give them something to look at.” Jack shrugged, and grabbed Bitty’s chin, pulling him into a quick kiss. Bitty allowed himself to glance back at his parents. They both had equally shell shocked looks on their faces. 

The whistle blew to start play again. Bitty threw on his helmet and tossed himself over the boards. He had more important things to worry about. 

\---

They won. Bitty resigned himself to making jam with out of season fruit. Jack gave a speech about making sure to not slack off over break. Bittle really didn’t think a whole quarter’s worth of progress could be ruined in a week, but Jack seemed pretty adamant about it. Bitty would probably stick to his workout plan. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do over the break. 

“Hey, Bits,” Jack asked as they walked back to the truck. “Do you know when your first day of work is?” 

“Yeah, first Monday after the break. Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” Jack smiled innocently at him. Bitty saw straight through him. Whatever he was planning, he would find out about it soon enough. He wasn’t worried. 

“Dicky!” He heard someone call out as he was about to get into the truck. He stopped and whipped his head around, where his mother was running toward him. 

“Dicky. Oh, thank goodness, I’m so glad I caught you. I wanted to talk to you.” 

“Oh,  **now** you want to talk to me?” He was suddenly angry. “You flipped my whole life upside down and kicked me out and  **now** you want to talk to me?” 

“Dicky, I-”

“Come on, Bits.” Jack’s hand landed on his back, steering him further from his mother. “We have to go.” 

Bitty simmered the whole car ride home, Jack ordered Pad Thai from that one place, and Bitty almost fell asleep on the suspicious couch with his takeout box situated on his lap while Shitty made ridiculous Wheel of Fortune guesses. 

It was awfully familiar. But different. Because this time the sinking in his gut faded after a few short hours. He fell asleep on Jack instead of a bed that wasn’t his. 

Things were better. 

  
  



	15. Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, it's bee! wow! it's been a while since i've done this, huh? huge huge HUGE thank you to my favorite jam man james for updating this for me while i was gone! pretty good for his first time ever posting anything on ao3, right? im v proud of him. im also very thankful that im home. i missed my cat. 
> 
> a couple updates. if you've been paying attention to that little chapter counter, you'll know that this thing is almost over. i'll do my final thoughts when i actually post the final chapter, but i've already begun work on my next zimbits fic. it's currently only at it's very beginning stages (i'm not even done with the chapter outline yet lol) but i really love the idea, and i think you all will too. i'm also gonna attempt something i haven't in a while: two multichapter fics at once. i have a nurseydex fic that i'm also planning on writing, although i wanna finish up this story before i start development on that one (and hoo boy, im very close to finishing this one. like in the last thousand words kinda close.) 
> 
> as far as personal life updates go, you guys probably know that i took a hiatus to focus on my ap tests. i'm very proud to announce that i passed both of my tests! i got a 4 on my apush test, and a 3 on my calc ab test. i kinda freaked out when i saw the scores, i was so excited. 
> 
> i've got about 2 weeks left until i go back to school, but it is gonna be distance learning. this is disappointing because it is my senior year, and if i knew that my last first day of high school was gonna be online then i would've dressed better for the first day of junior year. however, this does mean that i'll have more time to write fic. which is cool, i guess. idk, none of this is ideal, i dont like to think about it too much bc it makes me kinda upset
> 
> anyway, ill leave you all to it! i hope you enjoy this chapter!!
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r

Fall break was so close. Bitty couldn’t ignore it any longer. Not with his teachers talking about it 24/7. 

“And then, just read the last three chapters of our novel!” The bell rang, interrupting his history teacher’s lecture. “That’s it, enjoy your break!” She smiled at the class. 

“I’m not doing all of this,” Bitty mumbled to Jack as he began to pack his bag up. 

“Yes, you are,” Jack said, grabbing Bitty’s backpack and slinging it on his shoulder. 

He could’ve sworn that Jack was up to something. He insisted that he wasn’t, but he was going above and beyond for Bitty. He had been woken up to Beyonce and breakfast in bed (and Jack had even gotten him a PSL.), Jack insisted on carrying his bag everywhere, and the whole team was giving them eyes everywhere they went. 

Speaking of the team, Shitty quickly joined them in the hallways as they went to get one last Annie’s burger before the end of the quarter. 

“‘Sup, brahs!” 

“Hey Shits.” Jack smiled at him. 

“Hi!” Bitty waved with the hand that wasn’t holding Jack’s. 

“Rans and Holster are riding with us today. Mr. O needed the car.” Shitty announced. 

“Who’s Lardo going with then? She normally rides with them.” Jack asked. 

“Oh. Her too.” Shitty said. He went to continue his speech but was stopped by Rhonda turning the corner. 

“Boys, cafeteria is the other way.” She sighed.

“Yeah.” Shitty smiled at her. 

“You aren’t subtle at all. You know, I thought I’d have a break after you lot graduated, but it seems you're indoctrinating the new freshman. I’m gonna have to be dealing with hockey boys until I retire.” 

“Sorry.” Jack looked at her sheepishly. 

“You’re going with them, mister.” She stopped for a second, before rolling her eyes, and pulling a fiver out of her pocket. “I’m never going to win with you guys. Get me some fries, will ya?”

“Yes ma’am!” Shitty whooped, before grabbing the bill, stuffing it in his pocket, and walking out the door. Jack reached out to catch it, holding it open for Bitty. 

“I know you’re up to something mister.” Bitty grabbed his hand as they walked to the truck. Jack didn’t answer and instead smiled down at him. Bitty rolled his eyes and climbed into the back of the truck. Ransom and Holster were already situated in the back with Lardo crammed in the middle seat, so Bitty threw his backpack in the truck bed and went to sit in Ransom’s lap. 

“So, dudes, are you excited for break?” Holster said as Shitty began driving. 

“A whole week of court cases. Exciting. If any social workers ask Sienna lives with the Oluransi’s, not in the Haus.” Lardo rolled her eyes. 

“She might as well live with them, she’s spending so much time there,” Shitty said.

“Uh, oh course she is, my family is fucking ‘swasome,” Ransom said. “Besides, she really vibes with my brothers. You should see em together.” 

“It might be good to set her up there Shits. The Haus isn’t very kid-friendly.” Jack chimed in. 

“Maybe.” He sighed. “I like having her so close to me, but I know that living with high school students isn’t the best thing for her. I’ve really been thinking about setting her up somewhere a little more stable. But I don’t want her to think I’m like, giving her away, you know?” 

“She wouldn’t think that.” Holster said. “She could like, live with you guys part-time? Like Lardo does.” 

“I wouldn’t mind having a fellow part-time Haus person around.” 

“Exactly!” Holster exclaimed. 

“Bro, you don’t have to make a decision now, but my parents would have no problem taking Sienna in. They practically have given her her own room at this point.” 

“And if anyone has a stable house, it’s Ransom. His family is the fuckin’ definition of stable.” Holster said. 

If the situation was different, Bitty knew his parents would love to take her in. He knew that they always wanted a second kid, and wanted it to be a daughter. But he didn’t have that anymore. He tried not to think about it. 

Jack paid for his burger at Annie’s. And when Bitty went to go sit in his chair Jack grabbed him by the belt loops and pulled him into his lap. 

“Woah!” Bitty righted himself, settling in. “What was that for?” 

“Nothin’” Jack mumbled, placing a hand on his waist. The rest of the group went back to their conversation without them. 

“You sure?” 

“Maybe,” Jack said. And then it hit him. 

“Honey, you’re not jealous that I sat in Ransom’s lap on the ride over here, are you?” 

Jack waited a second before mumbling. “A little bit.”

“Sweetpea, Ransom is a beautiful man, but I don’t see him like that. I only sat in his lap because there weren't any seats left. It would’ve been you if you weren’t in the front seat.” Bitty grabbed his chin and pulled him in for a kiss. 

“Fi-” Holster started to yell, but cut himself off. 

“Okay, somethings definitely up, Mister. I know Holster didn’t just deliberately ignore that fine opportunity.” Bitty looked down at Jack. 

“I paid them off to leave us alone today.” Jack shrugged his shoulders innocently. Bitty just narrowed his eyes at him and opened his burger. 

Lunch was nice. Bitty was going to miss loud meals with them. He knew it was only a week, but that was much longer than he wanted to be alone for. Maybe he would spend some time with Mrs. K. It turned out her daughter’s wife owned the bakery he was going to be working at. It made him much more comfortable knowing that someone was going to be in his corner at his new job. (He sent Sienna to school with a pie as a thank you for the bus ticket. She cornered him in the grocery store to send her compliments.) 

Apparently they stored their chairs in the Haus during school breaks. Ransom and Holster had a competition to see who could carry the most chairs, which ended with them carrying everyone’s chair. Lardo gave him a high five as they hauled their chairs in the truck bed. 

\---

Whatever Jack had planned, Bitty had the feeling it was happening. Jack had rushed them home after school, and Shitty had plans to spend the night with Ransom and Holster, while Lardo was taking Sienna to some paint class. He knew that people were often coming in and out of the Haus, so his guess was that Jack asked everyone to leave them alone. 

As soon as they walked in the door, Jack placed him on the disgusting couch and ran out of the room. Bitty sat patiently. 

When he returned, he looked scared out of his mind. Bitty wanted so bad to reach out and smooth the crease on his forehead. But soon, he was talking. 

“So, I know it might be a little early for this. But my papa proposed to my maman after only knowing her for a month so honestly I don’t have a good example for how fast to do something like this, and-I’m not proposing to you oh god don’t look at me like that, you’re 14 that’s way too young-But, my Grandmere gave these to me when I was a little boy, and told me to keep them until I found someone I’m serious about. And it’s you. I’m serious about you. So, euh, here.” Jack opened a box. It was two matching promise rings, one obviously smaller than the other, although they were both very small. 

“They go on your pinky,” Jack said, pulling out the smaller one and sliding it onto Bitty’s pinky. It fit perfectly. “I had it adjusted. I guessed your ring size.” 

Bitty was stunned. He didn’t quite know what to say. So he just watched as Jack silently slid his matching ring on, then tackled him and began pressing kisses to his face. 

“Woah, Woah, hey bud, I’m not done yet. It’s okay if you don’t want to come, I did spring this on you last minute, but here.” Jack grabbed the envelope he brought and handed it to Bitty. 

There were two boarding passes. One for a flight to Montreal, and one back home. 

“I know you were upset about having to spend your break alone. So, I asked my parents if I could fly you up with me.” 

“Oh, Jack, you beautiful, beautiful, boy!” Bitty finally found his words, and reached for Jack, crying into his t-shirt. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome,” Jack whispered into his hair. “We need to pack tonight. Our flight leaves early and I know you like to sleep in.” 


	16. Montreal Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo! it's bee! to be honest, it feels kind of weird to be updating this fic, because i finished writing it about 40 minutes after i posted last week's chapter. its finished and beta'd, so it's entirely complete, and so my brain has kinda already filed it away. i almost forgot to post this before i remembered "oh shit just bc im done writing doesn't mean im done posting." 
> 
> anyway! i've finished the outline for my next zimbits fic, and am about halfway through the outline for my nurseydex fic. i'm super exciting to start writing those, however, don't expect chapters right away. i'm going to give myself a few weeks before i officially start on these big projects because i'm starting school aug 3rd. it's distance learning, so i'll be home, but they've completely changed the model, so i'm gonna give myself some time to adjust before i start writing. a little dissapointed bc its my senior year, but it's whatever. 
> 
> enjoy the chapter!
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r

Bitty was putting his last couple shirts into his suitcase when the front door slammed open. 

“Are you guys done with your cute couple shit!” Lardo called down the hallway. 

“Yeah, we’re in the bedroom if you wanna come in!” Bitty shouted back, grabbing his toiletry bag from Jack and placing it in his suitcase as well. He heard footsteps, and soon Lardo was in the room, Sienna holding her hand. 

“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite ladies! How was the painting class?” Bitty smiled at them. 

“It was good! The lady showed us how to paint owls! Ms. Lardo said she's gonna put glitter on mine for me.” Sienna smiled. 

“That’s good.” Jack looked up from his suitcase. “I’m glad you two had fun.” 

“Thanks, man. Bitty, Sienna and I are gonna highjack your room tonight. I don’t wanna be woken up early just because you guys have to get up early.” Lardo said. 

“That’s fine. I spend so many nights in this room that the other one is pretty much a guest room again.”

“‘Swasome. Night guys.” 

“Goodnight Lardo, Goodnight Sienna!” Bitty smiled and waved at them. 

“Goodnight girls,” Jack said. Sienna smiled and waved at them both, then Lardo was grabbing her hand and leading her across the hall. 

“You know, for someone who hates kids, she and Sienna do get on like a house on fire.” Bitty turned to Jack. 

“She is a pretty cool kid,” Jack said. “Come on bud, are you all packed? We really should go to sleep soon.”

“Yeah, let’s go to bed.” Bitty zipped up his suitcase as Jack got up to turn off the light. He fell asleep curled into Jack’s chest. Things were perfect. 

\---

Things were not perfect. 

“It’s so earlyyy,” Bitty mumbled into the pillow. “Why are we getting up this early.” 

“So we have time to grab breakfast after we go through security. Get up bud. I’ll buy you one of those pumpkin frappuccinos on the way to Boston.” Jack flipped on the light and Bitty groaned, shoving his face further into the pillow. 

“Latte.” He rolled over so he was on his back. “They’re called pumpkin spice lattes” 

“Whatever they are, I’ll buy you one if you get up.” 

“My own boyfriend, resorting to bribery. I can’t believe it.” Bitty sighed but got up anyway. 

“Don’t forget to grab your phone charger.” Jack reminded, a playful smile on his face. 

“I would never.” 

\---

As promised, Jack did make the uber driver stop and buy him a PSL.

They made it through the airport, where they checked in. They had to wait for a flight attendant to come and get them, as they were unaccompanied minors, but she was nice. She introduced herself as Isabelle as she began leading them through security. Bitty had to chug the rest of his latte before going through, but there wasn’t much of it left anyway. His shoelace got stuck tied in an impossible knot, and Jack had to help him untie it so he could go through the scanner. 

As Jack promised, they did have time to go get breakfast. Isabelle showed them to the Mcdonalds. Jack offered to buy her food too, but she declined. Bitty had a feeling she was hungry and handed her his hash brown. She took it, then put her finger to her lips to tell him to keep it a secret. Bitty nodded. Once they finished their food, they made their way to their gate. 

They waited to board, and Isabelle led them to their seats. She made sure they were situated before walking off to go attend to her other duties. 

Bitty had never flown first class before. It was exciting. Jack laughed as he marveled at the small luxuries. 

“Don’t you be laughing at me, Mr. Celebrity Parents.” Bitty smiled up at Jack, elbowing him in the side. As the flight began taking off, Jack lifted the bar between their seats and leaned against Bitty. 

“I’m a little nervous for you to meet my parents.” He mumbled into Bitty’s shoulder. 

“I’m a little nervous too,” Bitty admitted. “What if they don’t like me?” 

“Bits.” 

“Yeah?” 

“They’re going to love you,” Jack assured him. 

“How do you know?” 

“Because I love you.”

“I love you too, you big dork.” Bitty smiled and leaned over to capture Jack’s lips in a kiss. He was still nervous. But not as much as before. 

“That cloud looks like a bunny,” Jack mumbled, reaching over Bitty’s chest to point out the window. Bitty followed his finger, and as promised, there was a bunny-shaped cloud outside. A few minutes passed and Bitty pointed out one that looked like a cat with a cowboy hat. 

“That one looks like a hockey stick,” Jack said. 

“No, it does not. It looks like a mop. I think you’re biased honey.” Bitty rolled his eyes endearingly at him. 

\---

Bitty didn’t know when he fell asleep, just that he was awoken by the announcement that they were beginning their descent. He got up from where he was leaning against Jack, who simply smiled down at him. He reached for his water, but upon discovering it was empty, reached for Jack’s. He swatted him away, but ultimately let Bitty finish off his water. 

“I’m nervous again,” Bitty said. 

“Bittle. They’re going to love you. Besides, you’ve met my papa before. You’re already halfway there.” 

“I met your dad for 5 minutes in a locker room after a hockey game. That is no way similar to existing in his house for a week.” 

“Well, I talk about you all the time, and I’m pretty sure they’re both waiting for the day we get engaged.” 

“They’re gonna be waiting a while then.” Bitty laughed softly. “I love you honey, but I’d like to at  _ least _ graduate high school before I worry about that.” 

“I’ll wait as long as you want. Also, I love you too.” Jack leaned down to press a soft kiss to his lips, and then they were landing. A flight attendant began talking in French over the intercom, then repeated her spiel in English. Jack made sure they had all of their things, then they got off. 

“It’s cold here.” Was the first thing that Bitty said after getting off. 

Jack just laughed. “Welcome to Canada.” 

They had to wait at the gate for Isabelle. She made sure they were situated and then brought them to the front of the airport to meet up with the Zimmermanns. 

Bitty’s first thought was that Alicia was much more beautiful in person, even in sweatpants. His second thought was that she could run surprisingly fast. It was sweet to see her attempt to scoop Jack up in her arms, even though he was much bigger than her. 

He was shocked when she moved on and gathered Bitty in a hug without a moment's hesitation. 

“Oh, you must be the famous Eric Bittle! It is so lovely to meet you!” She smiled at him. 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Zimmermann.” Bitty smiled up at her. 

“Now, none of that nonsense. Call me Alicia. I’m so glad you were able to make it!” 

“I’m glad I was able to come too.” He smiled. 

“How have you been, kid?” Bob turned toward him, done with his reunion with Jack. 

“I’ve been good! How have you been?” 

“Ah, busy. I know it’s a little too early to say for sure, but we’re looking good for the cup.” He winked at Bitty. 

“Well, don’t jinx it!” Bitty smiled at him. 

“I hate to interrupt, but if you guys are done with your reunion, I’ve got some paperwork for you two Zimmermanns to sign,” Isabelle said. 

“Oh, no problem! We’ll be right back boys!” Alicia went to follow Isabelle, Bob close behind. 

Bitty let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“I don’t know why I was so worried. I love your parents already.” Bitty said. 

“See? I told you.” Jack smiled at him. Bitty had a feeling that the following week was going to be a good one. 

  
  



	17. Montreal Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy didn't mean to leave yall hanging genuinely forgot about this lol. finished my first week of school. my schedule is super easy (free period, ap stats, ap lit, hon gov/econ, choir, drama) but like...it's still taking some adjustment. in other news my birthday is in like half an hour. dancing queen status here i come. 
> 
> anyway! it's done! i'm gonna put my final thoughts on the story in the end notes so that this doesn't get to long. but, well, it's finished. heres the whole story. 
> 
> i hope you all enjoyed the story, and i hope you all enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> tumblr: lavender-hxney  
> omgcp blog: bittle-hxney  
> beta reader: h0n04rys3n10r

Montreal was beautiful. Bitty sat in the back of the Zimmermann’s very nice car as Bob drove them back to their house. It was a little funny to see Jack crammed in the backseat, but he liked being able to reach over and grab his hand. He liked being able to lean into Jack’s personal space. They continued down the highway, passing road signs that Bitty couldn’t read. 

“What’s that sign say?” Bitty said quietly, pointing to the one they were approaching. 

“100 kilomètres à l'heure. Speed limit.” Jack mumbled back. Bitty heard Jack speak french before, but it never failed to make his face flush. Alicia looked back at him with a knowing look, raising her eyebrow at him. Bitty shoved his face into Jack’s shoulder. He didn’t want to be too big with the PDA around Jack’s parents, so he grabbed Jack’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. 

The car ride was mostly silent, but every once in awhile Jack would read out another road sign, and Bitty’s stomach would flutter all over again.

\---

Just like their car, the Zimmermann’s had a very nice house. Bitty supposed that was to be expected when you combined an NHL star and a model’s salary. Bob pulled up and stopped the car, and Bitty reluctantly sat up. 

“You both can bring your things up to Jack’s room. We know you’re probably tired. Feel free to nap while we make lunch.” Alicia leaned back to talk to them. 

“Thank you.” Bitty smiled at her. She was right, he was exhausted. Jack carried his bag for him and led him upstairs to his room. He set down their bags, then turned to Bitty with a mischievous smirk on his face. Before he could process what was happening, Jack had picked him up and chucked him on the bed. He was close behind, hands shooting to Bitty’s sides to tickle him. He laughed loudly, trying to wriggle out of Jack’s grip. Jack pulled his shirt up and blew a raspberry on his stomach, and Bitty laughed even louder. Jack sat up and looked down at him, beaming. The light on his roof backlit his face like a shitty halo, but he was beautiful, and everything was beautiful and perfect and Bitty was grabbing his face to pull their mouths together before he fully realized he was doing it. 

They were interrupted by Bob clearing his throat and knocking loudly on Jack’s doorframe. They jumped apart, Bitty propping himself up on his elbows while Jack sat next to him. 

“Lunch is ready,” Bob smirked at them, and Bitty just knew that Jack was going to get chirped about this relentlessly. 

“Oh! Um, thank you!” Bitty squeaked, trying to act like he hadn’t just been caught making out with the man’s son. He failed miserably. Bob walked away, and as soon as he was out of eyesight, Bitty turned to Jack. They both erupted into laughter as soon as their eyes met. 

“Of course this happens within the first hour of us being here,” Bitty said. 

“Well, we got it out of the way. It was going to happen eventually.” Jack shrugged. He grabbed Bittle’s upper arm and pulled him into a softer kiss. 

“We should probably actually go downstairs for lunch now,” Bitty mumbled against Jack’s lips. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jack responded. “C’mon bud.” Jack got off the bed, and offered his hand to Bitty to help him up. Bitty took it, and they walked down, hand in hand. When Alicia saw them she started giggling, and Bitty had no doubt that Bob told her about what had happened. 

“Maman! Stop laughing.” Jack whined, throwing his head back. 

“Sorry baby.” She smiled at him. “Eric, I didn’t know what you liked on your sandwiches, so I just did it buffet style. I hope that’s okay!” 

“No, that’s perfect! Thank you!” Bitty smiled at her and began making his sandwich. 

“So, Eric. We heard that you bake?” Bob said. Alicia elbowed him and gave him a dirty look. He had a feeling that he was supposed to wait for Bitty to bring up the baking. 

“Oh, yeah! If you guys don’t mind me invading your kitchen, I can whip something up for us all!” 

“You don’t have to!” Alicia said at the same time that Bob said. “Sure!” Alicia gave him another dirty look, and Bitty couldn’t help but laugh. 

“I love to bake,” Bitty assured her. “It’s no problem!”

\---

“Jack, honey, could you grab that pie out of the oven? I’m looking for your pie cutter.” 

“Bottom drawer left of the dishwasher,” Jack said, grabbing his oven mitts and opening the oven. 

“Thanks, sweetpea!” Bitty called, crouching down to grab it. He stood up as Jack set the pie down on the counter, and pressed a kiss to the crown on Bitty’s head. “Could you go get your parents for me? Tell them that the pie is ready?” 

“Of course.” Jack walked off, and Bitty searched around for plates. He found them and began dishing out the pie as the three walked in. 

“This smells amazing!” Bob exclaimed as he walked in. 

“Why, thank you!” Bitty clapped his hands together. “If you don’t mind telling me where your cutlery is, we can begin eating!” 

“I’ll grab it!” Alicia offered. She went to a drawer and grabbed forks, and then they were all sitting down at the island counter. 

“This is Jack’s favorite pie. Although, it’s the first time I was able to make the maple crust with real syrup. I hope it’s up to your standards.” Bitty said. He waited nervously as they went to take their first bites. 

“Up to our standards!?” Alicia exclaimed. “Eric, I’m gonna need you to fly up here every weekend to make us a pie.” 

“This is amazing!” Bob exclaimed. 

“Oh!” Bitty couldn’t help but giggle. “Thank you so much!” 

\---

Jack showed him the city. His favorite spots as a kid. The rink where he first learned to skate. The Habs rink. His backyard rink. 

Lots of hockey. Bitty wasn’t surprised. 

The week flew by. It was the night before their flight home and Bitty was freshly showered, pressed against Jack’s side on his bed as he went through his pictures from the week, deciding which ones to post to Facebook. There was a selfie he took while riding on Jack’s back, both of them beaming at the camera. A picture of them skating in the Habs rink that Alicia took. A timer picture with the four of them smiling with leftover pie slices. A candid shot of Bob chasing him down the ice rink. A picture of him mid-spin, figure skating in the backyard rink. 

But his favorite picture was one of him and Jack, sitting on his front steps. Bitty had meant for it to be a normal selfie, but Jack had leaned in last second. And he had been left with a photo of them smiling onto each other’s mouths, the sunset casting a perfect glow on them. And they both looked so genuinely happy and in love. It almost managed to capture how he felt about Jack. 

He wasn’t sure about posting it though. 

“Jack, should I post this one?” Bitty muttered, tilting the phone toward him. 

“Yeah. It’s a good picture.” 

“But I have all my family on here.” 

“So?” 

“Yeah. Okay.” Bitty said, and added to the collection. After checking to make sure he had all the photos he wanted, he simply titled it “Montreal!”. He tagged all the appropriate people, then took a deep breath, and posted it. 

Jack leaned down to kiss his cheek. “I love you.” He said. 

“I love you too,” Bitty responded. His phone pinged, and he looked down. 

**Facebook: Suzanne Bittle liked your post**

**Facebook: Suzanne Bittle commented “Looks like you had a good time! I love that last picture!”**

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Things weren’t perfect, but they were better. They were much better. Bitty was happy and loved and things were improving and maybe he might even be able to work on repairing his relationship with his parents. 

He was okay. Things were okay. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so. thats it. it's done. 8 months of working on this. (technically 7, i finished writing this a couple weeks ago.) 
> 
> first of all, thank you, for coming on this journey with me. this is the biggest writing project i've taken on a while. abour 4 years ago i had a series of multi chapter fics i started but never finished, and it really put me off anything that wasnt oneshots. i dipped my toes in the water for multipchapter fics again like a year ago, but "the difference" only ended up being about 7000 words so idk if it counts. so that being said, the completion of this is a pretty big deal. i think this is the longest fic that i've actually finished. 
> 
> that being said, i'm not super proud of this, especially the beginning. i love the concept, but i really do think it could've been executed much better. looking back, the story moves way too quickly in the beginning. i tried to pull it in in the second half of the story (after realizing that things were going too fast). i do think i succeeded in that, but that doesn't change the fact that the pacing in the first half kinda sucks. at least it's a mistake i wont be making in the future, now that im aware that i made it. 
> 
> anyway, i wanna thank you all for sticking with me through these 8 months. seeing comments on this fic made my day, and made me smile so much. it's so fulfilling to see people actually enjoying the things i create, so thank you. 
> 
> that being said, it's time to move on! my next two multipchapter fics are in the works! the first is a zimbits one, titled "smile like that (i gotta flirt)" and the second is a currently unnamed nurseydex one! i'm really excited for both of these projects, and i hope you guys will enjoy them as much as i did. 
> 
> well, this is it. updating this story for the last time
> 
> much love, honeybee


End file.
